Causality
by Solaris1989
Summary: In the aftermath of the battle for the Tree of Souls, the Na'vi thought that the humans were gone for good. However, only days after they left more sky people arrive. Will the mining of Pandora resume, or will another unlikely hero arise? Norm S./OC
1. Dark Star

A/N: Hello, I hope you enjoy my story, which I do not own. As you can see, Avatar is owned by James Cameron, which means that I claim no ownership at all. This is merely an exercise in entertainment for myself, so suing is going to be a waste of time. Anyway, this story is rated M for language and possible citrus fruits arriving to quench everyone's thirst in the future.

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_**Causality**_

Solaris 1989

**Part One: Aftermath**

**Chapter One: Dark Star**

Alejandra's eyes shot open to the sound of her personal computer's notification of an incoming message. Quickly rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stood from her bunk and crossed the short distance to her desk and tapped the glowing notification on the screen. The notification window expanded to a live feed of her executive officer on the _Dark Star's_ Command Information Center. "Chacon here," she replied to the man on the screen.

"Captain, there's been an incident on Pandora. We've lost control of the planet," Commander Darren Fisher said, his voice grave.

Alejandra's eyes went wide. "How? When? What the hell happened down there?" These were the only things she could think to reply to what her XO had just said.

Fisher took a deep breath before continuing. "From the information we received from the _Venture Star_ and RDA high command, forty-eight hours ago the Na'vi took command of the _Hell's Gate_ base and have driven almost all of the remaining military and civilian personnel from Pandora. The _Venture Star_ is already en route back to Earth as they do not have enough remaining military personnel and resources to attempt a retake of the facility."

She froze for a moment. _Oh no, Trudy_, she thought before replying. Unable to contain it, anger crept into her voice as she replied. "How the hell did a bunch spear chucking primitives drive out a military force of nearly two thousand strong packing state-of-the-art weaponry?"

"Apparently one of Augustine's avatars, a Marine Corporal named Jacob Sully, staged a rebellion against Quaritch's command by gathering many of the tribes together with a fighting force equal in number to the planet side RDA forces. Quaritch retaliated by launching a counter strike against them before they could storm _Hell's Gate_; however, they lost the battle with the Na'vi and they overrun the base because Quaritch committed nearly all his forces. Damn son-of-a-bitch didn't leave enough forces at home to stop the locals." Fisher stated to her unable to re press his opinion.

Alejandra crossed her arms. Quaritch had committed all his forces without leaving enough behind to guard his assets, a bold and arrogant move that had cost the RDA billions of dollars and cost the lives of many good men and women. "What about Quaritch?"

"Dead. Sully killed him himself, then moved on _Hell's Gate_ and booted everyone off the planet except for the other avatars, scientists, and a few others willing to side with the Na'vi."

"Do you know if Trudy…Lieutenant Chacon survived?"

Fisher sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry Captain, but the casualty reports are sketchy at best. The _Venture's_ crew is still tallying who made it, who stayed on Pandora, and who's missing or dead. As soon as we know anything about your sister, I'll let you know."

Eyes downcast, Alejandra shook her head. "I know, thank you." She sighed. Trudy would have to wait because the proverbial shit had hit the fan and her ship, the _ISV Dark Star_, was the next ship slated to bring in a fresh shipment of personnel and supplies, and with Quaritch dead, she was now the senior RDA commander for all Pandoran matters for the next two years until the _ISV Alpha Star_ arrived at Pandora. The _Dark Star_ would arrive at the world of Pandora in a week's time, which only gave her a week to prepare for either a military move to retake _Hell's Gate_ or seek a diplomatic solution with the Na'vi, the later the preferable scenario. Even with a shipment of over five hundred troops meant to refresh the ranks and relieve some of the planet side personnel, she would be unable to repel a force as large as the one Sully had gathered against Quaritch. Plus with most of the RDA air force destroyed, they would have to replace those birds with the ones in storage and manufacture more on site, which would take time…time they did not have.

"Darren, I'm on my up there. I want the _Venture Star's_ captain on the horn and I want RDAcom on as well when I get there," she said closing the COMM window on her terminal. Alejandra turned and walked over to her closet and pulled out the nearest of her uniform jump suits and slid it on, zipped it up, and tied her neck length hair into a functional small ponytail with a rubber band she kept on her desk.

Within minutes she was leaving her quarters and headed for the CIC one level above, relative to the rotating section that comprised the ship's command decks. When she arrived, Darren was talking rapidly to three people on the large monitor at the back of the center that normally dis played the ship's status. She recognized all three. On the left was RDAcom's chief, Nathan Andrews, the center of the screen displayed the _Venture Star's_ captain, a Philippe Renaldo, and the right side displayed the now former RDA head of operations Parker Selfridge. Selfridge for his part definitely looked worse for the wear; his hair was unkempt, clothes wrinkled, and he had not shaved in the two days since _Hell's Gate_ had fallen.

"Ah Captain Chacon," said Andrews looking at her as she walked over to join Fisher.

"Gentlemen," she replied gesturing to the men on screen. "Let's get started, my first officer has brought me up to speed on the situation. I need you to fill in the gaps and assist in how I should proceed with this…situation."

"The situation is fucked up; that's what it is," Selfridge said shaking his head.

Alejandra nodded, "Indeed it is, but I need to know exactly how the shit hit the fan before I proceed. Fisher said that an avatar named Jake Sully built an army of angry Na'vi and rebelled against our forces on the ground."

Selfridge laughed hysterically, "That's not exactly how it happened Captain."

Frowning, Alejandra crossed her arms and looked Selfridge in the eyes. "Then what re ally happened Administrator?"

Selfridge sighed as he remembered recent events. "A few months ago, right before the _Venture Star_ arrived; we found very large deposit of unobtainium underneath the local Na'vi tribe's hometree, the largest deposit within nearly two hundred kilometers…"

"Let me guess, you wanted it and were determined to access it," Alejandra interrupted.

He nodded, "Yes, you just don't ignore a deposit that large…but I wish we had. When Jake Sully arrived with the _Venture Star_, he was assigned to Grace's…Dr. Augustine's avatar program. On his first mission, he got lost and somehow stumbled upon the local tribe's hometree. Somehow, he persuaded them into not killing him and to teach him how they lived. For the next few months, he mostly lived among the Na'vi, and at some point during that time he went native and mated with the chief's daughter."

Unable to suppress a small smile, she shook her head. "Damn, Sully didn't go halfway did he?"

"No hid didn't," Renaldo said with a look of disdain thinking about those _humans_ lost.

Selfridge sighed again, and shook his head. From what she could see, Selfridge was on the edge right now. "When our dozers got there, he attacked one of them and disabled it. With that incident, we knew that diplomacy had failed and decided to proceed with the tree's destruction. We thought that they'd just move on, I mean there are plenty of trees right?" He asked try ing to justify his actions.

Alejandra shook her head. "No, that was there home. That tree was more than a tree to them, and you know it."

Interrupting her, Andrews spoke up. "Excuse me; we're not here to discuss who was right or wrong. We're here to discuss how we should proceed with taking back our assets."

_Assets_ infuriated her. The only thing worse than a greedy corporation more concerned with assets than the safety of those who work for them was: greedy corporations more concerned with assets than the safety of those who work for them. But now was not the time to voice her opinion; she needed to know exactly what happened because she was responsible for the lives of 557 people, 558 if she counted herself.

"Right sir," she said nodding to Andrews, "I was out of line. However, I would like for Mr. Selfridge to finish. If this situation is going to continue to be hostile, any information could valuable in making command decisions. I may have over five hundred people on this ship, but I don't have enough resources or capability presently to engage in a straight up fight…unless you want to have another failure on your hands."

Andrews nodded to Alejandra. "No, we've already suffered a large enough loss this quarter. Parker, please continue."

"Oh, uh, yes," Parker stuttered as he continued. "We arrested Sully…the real Sully, Dr. Augustine, and a scientist named Norman Spellman."

_Spellman, I've heard that name somewhere_, Alejandra thought as Selfridge recounted re cent events.

"A few hours later, one of our pilots broke them out of their cell and stole one of our Samsons and headed for where the Na'vi had relocated. A few days later, our satellites picked up elevated thermal signatures in Na'vi territory. We realized that they were amassing an army that already equaled ours, and would possibly grow to ten times that in a few days. Quaritch decided to take the fight to them before they would be able overrun our perimeter by assaulting one of their most sacred…holy places, something they call the 'Tree of Souls.'"

Alejandra pinched her nose, "And he committed nearly all his forces in this attack."

"He left a small contingent behind to guard the base…"

"Administrator, a small contingent is not enough to guard against an OpFor numbering over two thousand," Alejandra said incredulously. She knew Quaritch, she knew he was head strong, but she never thought him stupid enough to risk everything on such a gamble."

"Don't you think I don't know that," Selfridge yelled his eyes wide and wild. "We lost contact with them, and we watched the Na'vi just…just swarm all over them. I had no choice but to surrender…surrender or die."

Using her hands in a calming gesture, Alejandra looked at him sympathetically. "Administrator…Parker, you did the right thing, the same thing I would have done in your situation. Your actions ensured that some survived, for that you should be commended."

"Right…uh thank you Captain," Selfridge said, "but I do…do not deserve praise. My actions caused more death than good."

Andrews cleared his throat. "So now you know everything we know. The only other thing you should be apprised of is that yesterday Dr. Spellman sent a superluminal COMM burst to Earth saying that Pandora is 'sovereign territory,' and that 'any unauthorized landings would be considered an act of war.'"

Alejandra shifted her weight and to face Andrews. "I assume you are not ordering me to turn back sir."

"Correct Captain. You know as well as any of us that Pandora is the only known source of unobtainium and how valuable this material is to advancing our technology. We cannot let a bunch of flea bitten; tree hugging savages stop us from accessing those deposits."

Nodding at his assessment, "I understand sir, but with all due respect; these _savages_ have done a remarkable job of impeding our efforts so far," Alejandra replied.

"True," Andrews agreed, "but I believe it's time to remove our gloves. I am authorizing you to take back Pandora with any means necessary. This includes accessing the _special payload_ that former base commander Falco requested that is secured in your hold," Andrews said as a smile began forming.

"You want Chacon to nuke the Na'vi!" Selfridge said hysterically.

"If it comes to it Parker; personally, I think we should have done this much earlier." Andrews smile now taking a sinister twist; "I think that we should consider achieving peace with the Na'vi through superior firepower."

Alejandra's stomach lurched at the notion, and she found herself wanting to throw up. This was wrong…just absolutely wrong on all levels. What happened under Quaritch's leader ship was a tragedy for both sides. If the situation progressed along the lines that Andrews was thinking, it would be unforgivable. "You can't be serious!" There were just some lines one could not cross.

Andrews face darkened, "I'm more than serious Captain. However, please do not underestimate me. Only resort to deploying radiological ordinance as the last option."

_Oh so it's alright to nuke innocents if it's your 'last option', but under other circumstances it's bad press_, Alejandra thought as her ill feeling shifted to anger. "I assure you Mr. Andrews that I would exhaust every other possible option before I even consider _considering_ something like that."

"I understand Captain, I don't like this scenario either," said Andrews in an attempt to look sympathetic toward her. "I would never consider having you make a decision of this mag nitude lightly."

_I can't believe this shit. I won't do that... I can't do that!_ "I'll take it under advisement sir," she managed to get out without sounding too angry.

Andrews merely nodded, giving no indication that he knew how angry she was. "I expect that you will. Well, if there is no other business I must go. Unfortunately, there are angry share holders and government officials I must placate. Good evening to you Captain, I trust you will keep us apprised of your current situation."

"I intend to sir." Alejandra replied curtly.

"Excellent." Andrews reached toward his screen and the left side of the screen went blank as his disconnected from the transmission. Selfridge and Renaldo remained onscreen as their sections expanded to cover the space left when Andrews disappeared.

Alejandra looked over to Renaldo. "Please tell me you aren't going along with this."

He looked over to Selfridge, who was transmitting his feed from his quarters aboard the _Venture Star_. "Personally, I think we should kill three Na'vi for every human we lost, but I understand your apprehension at using nuclear ordinance. Just remember that you're human Chacon."

Selfridge sighed again for at least the tenth time since the meeting had begun. "Captain, you can't nuke them. It took our forces being slaughtered and us being evicted from the planet to open my eyes. We were wrong, we were so very wrong. All we can hope is that it isn't too late to redeem ourselves. Grace was right; she knew that we should have focused on the natural wonder of Pandora instead of raping the planet like Earth."

"Well our resident capitalist turned naturalist may disagree with Andrews, Chacon, but I think that we need to send our blue buddies a message about messing with us," rebutted Renaldo. "Regardless, you have one hell of a mess waiting for you Captain, and I want you to know that I wish you the best of luck. However, I do not envy you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Alejandra replied almost sarcastically, though she realized that Renaldo was being genuine in his gesture.

Selfridge made one last, pleading look at Alejandra, "Please Captain, don't make us any more unredeemable."

She looked him in the eye. "I can't promise anything at this point, but I'll do everything in my power to keep this peaceful. As I said earlier, I don't have the manpower to fight a war."

"I know you'll do your best," Renaldo said before cutting the transmission from the _Venture Star_.

She and Fisher stood there in silence for a moment, the only sounds coming from the ship's computers and environmental systems and the bustling of the other CIC staff. Alejandra then turned to face her XO, "Darren, I want you to get our COMM officer to transmit the standard notification to _Hell's Gate_ control to notify them of our intended arrival, then I want you to meet me in my quarters. We have a ton of shit to plan for and only a week to plan for it."

"I'll get right on it Alejandra," Fisher acknowledged with a kind smile on his face.


	2. Unexpected Guests

**Chapter Two: Unexpected Guests**

Jake Sully opened his eyes as the early morning sun rose over the peaks of the Hallelujah Mountains. As much as he wanted to stay asleep for just a little while longer, he knew that he must rise for the day. He was about to get up, when the warm body of his mate shifted against him.

Responding to her movements, he gently leaned down and kissed her on her neck. Her eyes fluttered open and gazed longingly into his. "I see you my Jhake," she said kindly to him, saying his name with her highly accented English.

He leaned down and kissed her gently before taking his right hand to gently caressing the left side of her face. "I see you my Neytiri."

Neytiri took her left hand and caressed the right side of Jake's face in response, gentle smile gracing her lips. The two stared at each other for a moment longer before sitting up, both naked from the evening before. "My Jhake," she said again, this time with more desire.

As much as Jake knew he had responsibilities to his people, he knew that they would wait for a little while longer.

"Morning Norm," Max Patel said walking into the now mostly vacant operations room in the _Hell's Gate_ complex. Norm looked up at him but didn't say anything. The scientist and ava tar driver had not been saying much since the battle at the Tree of Souls three days ago. Max knew why too. It wasn't the injuries his avatar had suffered during the battle, they would heal soon enough, and he could resume using it. He was depressed because of the death of Trudy Chacon, who had been killed when Quaritch shot her down during the battle.

Max knew also not to broach the subject with Norm. The two had just professed their love for each other before the battle, and Norm was barely functional as it was without having to be reminded of his now lost Trudy.

Max walked over to one of the many empty terminals near the windows. He looked down to the concrete surface below, which had once been bustling with RDA miners, mechanics, and military personnel, but now bustled with a new energy. Instead, the concrete below bustled with a mixture of the remaining humans and many of the Omaticaya tribe of the Na'vi. Many of the Omaticaya were now calling _Hell's Gate_ home now since the destruction of their hometree and the subsequent takeover of all RDA assets.

He and the other humans who were allowed to remain behind on Pandora now coexisted alongside the Na'vi, and hopefully would continue to do so.

"Oh shit!"

Max was startled from his thoughts at Norm's surprised outburst. "What is it, Norm?"

"The orbital satellites are picking up a signal from a ship outside this star system. It's broadcasting its identification as the _ISV Dark Star_ and their current course. The message says that they have begun braking maneuvers and estimate their arrival in approximately seven days," Norm said reading from the screen panic etching his face.

Max shook his head, "That can't be right. The nearest ship en route should be at least two years out."

"Well it's not the _Venture Star_, satellite's still showing them en route to Earth and the security firewalls aren't showing any breaches," Norm replied as he brought up the security status of their computer networks. "Yeah it's definitely another RDA ship, the registry checks out with the current roster of the _Capital Star_ class."

Max continued to shake his head, "But why would she be out here this early?"

"I don't know. Maybe they were ordered to leave earlier than scheduled for some reason, but they'd have had to leave Earth only mere months after the _Venture Star_ did, which was nearly six-and-a-half years ago," Norm shrugged as he guessed at the mysterious nature of the _Dark Star's_ imminent arrival.

Max came over to huddle over the terminal next to Norm, "That's odd. I've been here for nearly eight years, and I've never heard mention of this ship before. Normally, the incoming ships are known publically since we keep track of what personnel and materials we've requisitioned."

"Well whatever the reason, I don't think they're here to just drop by and see the sights." Norm copied the telemetry data onto a tablet and stood up from the terminal. "I need to see Jake about this," Norm said looking at Max. "Max would you access the restricted files in the main frame see if there's anything about this ship, or to why she's here nearly two years ahead of schedule."

Max nodded as her turned toward Parker Selfridge's former office, "I'll get right on it Norm."

Jake finished drying himself off after bathing in the nearby river and slipped his loincloth on. A few meters away, Neytiri was doing the same and heading to where she left her bow and arrows. He joined her and wrapped his arms around her waist. The two had been taking a couple of days to become reacquainted with each other since he had passed through the Eye of Eywa, transferring his consciousness completely into his Na'vi/human avatar.

They were planning on taking a couple of direhorses and going on a hunt today. "Penny for your thoughts my Neytiri," he said kissing her neck.

"What is this Pinnie, my Jhake," she said leaning into him.

His right hand stroked her side making her gasp in pleasure. "It's just a tawtute expression that means 'what are you thinking?'"

She noticed him using the Na'vi word often used to refer to the 'sky people,' but decided not to touch on it. He was becoming more and more a member of 'The People.' She replied in fluid Na'vi to her mate. "I am thinking of how fortunate I am to have a mate like you, but that we mustn't spend all day lying around 'seeing each other' when we must hunt."

Jake only laughed at her frankness. "Yes, you're right. I think we should hunt and then 'see each other' tonight," he said in less fluid Na'vi, but making his mate blush nonetheless.

"Will you never be satisfied?"

"Last time I checked my Neytiri, you were the insatiable one," Jake said answering her question and kissing her again. A moment later the kiss deepened, and it seemed that their hunting trip would have to wait a little while longer. However, their love was interrupted by the sound of a Samson coming in fast on their location.

Neytiri hissed in annoyance, "Why do tawtute always have to ruin everything?"

Jake looked up to see the Samson come into view as it whipped around the nearest bend in the river, its rotors disturbing the otherwise calm surface of the water. He noticed that she ship was coming in very fast and low. _Shit, something's wrong_, he thought to himself as the Samson sat down and disengaged its engines a dozen or so meters from them.

He saw his friend Norm Spellman climb out of the passenger compartment with his exo pack firmly in place and running toward the couple. Norm's avatar was still healing from its wounds it had sustained from Quaritch's attempt to destroy the Tree of Souls. He noticed that the pilot had elected to re main in the cockpit, and seemed to be occupied with the bird's radio.

"NormSpellman, it is good to see you," Neytiri greeted him in the characteristic Na'vi way of saying both the first and last names as one.

Norm stopped a meter or so in front of them, "Neytiri, Jake, I'm sorry for disturbing you like this," Norm said in between heavy breaths. He was bent over touching his knees as he caught his breath.

Jake kneeled in front of his friend so they would be closer to eye level, Neytiri copying his movements. "Norm, it's okay. What's up?"

"Jake, I've got some bad news. This morning, the RDA satellites picked up a ship on an approach vector to Pandora." Norm watched Jake's eyes widen.

"Shit, is the _Venture Star_ back?"

"No, it's another RDA ship, the _ISV Dark Star_. Max and I looked over the scheduled arrivals to Pandora, and this ship is nearly two years ahead of schedule."

Jake nodded his head; absorbing the information Norm had given him. "How far out is the _Dark Star_?"

"Our monitors place it arriving within seven standard days. They sent the standard arrival message and identification codes, but since they have been silent," Norm said pulling out his tablet and showing Jake the telemetry he copied off of the terminals at _Hell's Gate_.

Jake took the tablet from Norm, noticing how small it was in his larger Na'vi hands. "What actions have you taken?"

"I had Max send them the same message we've sent all other RDA ships that 'Pandora is sovereign territory, and any unauthorized landings will be considered an act of war.' I've also got Max pouring through Selfridge's restricted files on the mainframe for any information regarding the _Dark Star_ and why she's so early," Norm replied frowning in concern regarding the situation. "I came here as soon as we found out."

Jake handed the tablet back to Norm and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you did good my friend," he said giving Norm a comforting smile. "I'd have done the same thing." He looked over at Neytiri and shook his head, "Well it looks like the hunt's off."

"You must go and help your friend. I'll gather the clan elders at the tawtute home so we may ready ourselves for these new tawtute." Neytiri's face grave as she said the words.

"May you be hasty in your return," Jake said in Na'vi to her as she turned and called her direhorse, climbed it, and rode off toward the Tree of Souls. "Norm get the chopper fired up, we've got work to do."

Alejandra listened again to the reply they had gotten from _Hell's Gate_. "This is Dr. Maximilian Patel of the Na'vi liberated world of Pandora to _ISV Dark Star_. This world is sovereign territory of the Na'vi, any unauthorized landings on Pandora will be treated as an act of war."

"I don't think we're going to meet with a welcome reception."

She looked up to face her XO, "I think that would be the understatement of the century."

"Captain, I'm going to say it one more time. I think that you are out of your mind if you think this plan of yours will work," Darren Fisher sighed as he pinched his nose again. "You know for a smart woman, you can be incredibly dumb."

Alejandra couldn't help but smile at his remark. "True, but they won't let us land a garrison of troops, and _Hell's Gate_, the main mine, and _Swotulu_ are under their control, which leaves us with no other viable landing sites for our Valkyrie shuttles. And I'm _not_ about to nuke them into submission." She found herself frowning again. "I don't like it either…but it's the only way. We have a complement of Samsons, Scorpions, and two Dragons plus one of the new Super Dragons, but we'd have to ship them down to the planet and then assemble them before we could use them. By then the Na'vi would be all over us."

"Can't we assemble the ships here and then ship them down in the Valkyries," asked Fisher as he paced around Alejandra's cabin.

She nodded, "Yes we could, with the Samsons and Scorpions at least, but we'd have to make so many trips since they take up so much more room assembled. The Na'vi and the humans at _Hell's Gate_ would still pick us up on their radar and bring the hammer down."

"Alright, but I still think you're nuts Captain."

Alejandra was about reply when her terminal beeped. She spun around in her chair and tapped the incoming COMM message. "Chacon here," she said again for the second time that night.

"Captain, we're receiving another message from _Hell's Gate_," said the on duty communications officer, "it's a live feed this time."

She looked over to Darren before returning her gaze to the COMM officer on the screen. "Is it Dr. Patel from before," she asked. A part of her wished that it would be her sister Trudy, even if it technically made her a traitor.

The COMM officer shook her head. "Negative Captain, the…it's Jake Sully."

Her blood drained from her face. She had hoped to have a little longer to plan before speaking with him, but at least it confirmed her assumptions that he was still in charge. "Lieutenant, patch him through."


	3. Ghosts

A/N: Okay boys and girls, here's chapter 3. I'd really like to thank Prehensile, Robby Cartwright, and The Black Trifecta for their reviews and input. (I hope I spelled your names right). For Prehensile, the question of why Chapter two ended with Alejandra speaking with Jake live should be properly answered in this chapter. I really hope you all continue to enjoy this story. For Trudy fans, I would like to say that she will make an appearance later, in more than a flashback or reference. You'll just have to wait and see :3

Oh and Halo fans, I hope you catch my reference to the game in this chapter. :)

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**Chapter Three: Ghosts**

The tension during the ride from the Hallelujah Mountains was thick enough that if the Samson they rode in had to navigate it, they would quickly run out of fuel. The pilot, for the most part, had remained silent, which was a small blessing. Norm went over everything he had been able to gather before he left _Hell's Gate_, but there wasn't much more information regarding the incoming ship that Norm hadn't gone over. Jake hoped that Max would have more information about the situation.

Parker Selfridge and Miles Quaritch had been in charge of the RDA facilities for years before he had arrived on Pandora, which meant that if there was something regarding this ship and why it was early; it would those sectors of the RDA mainframe. The thought that more humans would be arriving to pillage and plunder the riches of beautiful Pandora angered Jake greatly. Worse more was that this ship would be arriving merely days after the evicted humans had left.

Jake sighed as he looked down at the ground passing rapidly below them. For the first time in a long time, he was happy. He had his legs back, he was able to walk again for the first time in years, he was mated to a, no, the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, and he had a family again. The last part made him very content. With his parents long dead and the death of his twin brother mere days before he left Earth for this world, he had lost everyone he'd ever cared about. However, when he arrived here on Pandora, he gained that back and so much more. This was why he would never stop fighting. He would never give up his mate, his family, nor would he allow the humans and their _Resource Development Administration_ destroy this world like they had Earth.

With that thought, Jake paused for a moment. He didn't realize when it happened, it was strange, but Jake didn't think of himself as human any longer. Technically, he wasn't. Technically, Jake Sully was dead. He'd died two days ago when the People had helped him transfer his mind, his soul, or whatever it was that made up a person fully into his avatar body. Funny that only a few months ago, he'd have been sitting, laughing, and raping this world right alongside Selfridge and Quaritch, he mused.

Jake was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Norm remove his exopack and wipe his eyes and then replacing his exopack. "Hey Norm, you alright?"

Norm nodded his head and forcing himself to smile he said, "Yeah Jake I'm fine. I've just not slept well in the past few days. Plus, I'm worried about this ship, the _Dark Star_. I'm concerned we're gonna have another war on our hands."

Jake nodded to his friend. What Norm had said was very true, but it wasn't what was bothering him. No, Trudy's death was what was wrong with Norm. He'd had lost the one he loved most only hours after they had finally admitted their feelings for each other. Jake and Neytiri had presided over a funeral for the fallen pilot the night after the battle, along with every one that was lost that day, and the whole time Norm had wept openly for her. Truth be told, there wasn't a dry eye there, even he Toruk Makto had wept for the pilot and his adoptive brother Tsu'Tey.

Deciding not to broach the subject of Trudy, Jake placed his large right hand on his hu man friend's shoulder. Norm would heal in time, and he would find another woman. She wouldn't be Trudy, but she would be whom Norm would need. His only hope was that she found him sooner rather than later. Until then, he would do what he could for the scientist. _Maybe I should get him to go hunting with me and Neytiri when his avatar heals_, Jake thought.

The rest of the flight to _Hell's Gate_ proceeded quietly, and the skies were beginning to turn orange when the Samson set down on the airstrip at the former RDA compound. Upon their arrival, Jake and Norm headed for the control room in the administration building. Jake felt his stomach tighten as he crossed the threshold into the building. _I said I would never come back here_, he thought as Norm removed his exopack after the air finished cycling in the airlock. Jake found it funny on a level that while he and the Na'vi could breathe the filtered air of the humans, the humans could not breathe Pandora's atmosphere.

The walked down the corridors toward the nearest elevator that would take them to the control room, Jake having to occasionally duck under a conduit, light, or duct as the human base was not designed to accommodate the average two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half meters that the Na'vi measured. A few moments later, the two entered the control room.

Inside, Max was standing alongside several other scientists at the room's central holo-projector. The projector was currently displaying Pandora floating relative to Polyphemus on the right side of the projector. On the left side, a small red dot was depicted moving along a yellow line that was arcing in toward Pandora. The red dot was marked _ISV Dark Star RDA# 03432401_.

"Hey Max, what's up," Jake asked as he and Norm approached the projector. Max looked up and gave an exasperated smile.

"Jake, good to see you. How's the avatar body treating you?"

Jake smiled back and rubbed the back of his head. "It's working great, you should seriously think about cloning yourself one and trying it out." Jake knew that if he broke the ice first, it would make dealing with the situation on hand easier.

"Maybe I'll try it out sometime, but I imagine that you are wanting to get down to business," Max replied nodding to his friend. "I assume Norm informed you about what's going on."

Jake nodded. "Did you find anything else out about the ship?"

Max tapped a few commands into the projector's keyboard and the image shifted to show the _Dark Star_ cruising through space. Like other _Capital Star_ class ships, the _Dark Star_ was comprised of three primary sections. The ship's bow section was dominated of two matter/antimatter-powered engines, radiator fins for reactor heat dissipation, and matter/antimatter containment pods. Behind the engine assembly, a reinforced carbon nanotube support structure that stretched well over a thousand meters, which looked incredibly fragile to the naked eye. On the rear quarter of this section, the habitation sections, command sections, and cargo sections that also held the docking umbilicals for the Valkyrie shuttles. However, unlike other ships of the class, the _Dark Star_ had a complement of three Valkyries instead of the usual two.

The last dominant feature was the large mirror attached to the rear of the ship to reflect laser radiation from superluminal communication bursts from Earth and other cosmic radiation. Below the ship, a series of numbers were displayed. The most notable was the ship's velocity, which was steadily decreasing, as it would have been for the past five and half months. Since the ship cruised at seventy percent the speed of light, it took months to accelerate safely and an equal amount of time to safely decelerate.

Coughing, Max sighed. "Yes, we found out more about our incoming guests that I would have hoped. At first glance, she just looks a little larger than the typical _Capital Star_ class ship, but as the saying goes 'appearances can be deceiving.' She's not just larger; she's armed and capable of initiating in orbital combat.

"The _Dark Star_ is carrying over one hundred Kinetic Strike Warheads, which are basically dense tungsten-alloy rods with attitude controls and a rudimentary guidance system. The KSW's pretty much are meteor strikes on demand, but that's not the worse part."

Norm laughed hysterically at Max's words and threw his hands in the air. "So having the ability to launch a hundred kinetic warheads and wipeout a hundred Na'vi villages isn't the worst this ship can do. What's the worst part? Do they have the ability to nuke us or blow up a star or something?"

"Actually," Max said rubbing the back of his head nervously, "they do have a complement of six nuclear warheads. Three low yield tactical warheads of less than a megaton, two two-megaton units, and a high yield fifty-megaton warhead."

"Fun for the whole family," one of the other scientists in the room muttered to himself gaining a slight glare from Jake.

Jake walked over to the table, which he had never really seen from any higher than waist before and leaned down for a closer look at the starship it displayed. "Okay, so the ship is loaded with enough shit to ruin everyone's day. What else to they have to bring to the party besides fifty megatons of bitch slap?"

Picking up a tablet off of the nearest computer terminal to the projector, Max tapped an icon on the lower left of the screen and brought up a window displaying the _Dark Star's_ manifest. "From what I can see Jake, the ship is carrying over five hundred personnel, mostly military, a few miners, and a few scientists and techs. They also have thirty or so modularized Samsons, these would be assembled after transporting them groundside, and it looks like three dragons that would have to also be assembled groundside. Other than that, the manifest is fairly consistent with other shipments this base has received in the past." After glancing once more to make sure he had not missed any details, he handed to tablet to Norm.

Norm took the tablet from Max and looked it over himself, then handed it to Jake. Norm crossed his arms before and stroked his chin before adding to the discussion. "Do we know any thing about who's in charge? I mean, we were able to negotiate with Captain Renaldo of the _Venture Star_ weren't we?"

"Well it says that the Captain is a guy named Richard Matthews and the second in command is a guy Darren Fisher; never heard of either of them," Jake said as he expanded the crew section of the manifest displayed on the portable computer; though he struggled with his larger avatar hands. "Whoa, this is odd."

Everyone in the room immediately turned to Jake. "What's odd," Norm asked hoping that there wasn't something else that could make this FUBAR or 'Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition' situation any worse than it already was.

"Well it's who the outgoing Captain is. If I'm reading this right, I think the backup captain might be related to Trudy," Jake replied with surprise still showing on his face. "Here Norm, look for yourself." He handed to tablet back to his friend.

Max shook his head and raised an eyebrow. "Why would the ship have two commanding officers?"

"Standard operating procedure," Jake replied. "It takes nearly six years to get here and another six to return to Earth. They usually have one set of crew members operate the ship on the trip here, and another to operate the ship on the return trip. The set that's not active travels in cryo to keep them from aging as fast. If they only used one crew, they could only make a couple of trips back and forth before they hit retirement age."

"Captain Alejandra Chacon, yeah the last name definitely throws up a flag," Norm said before setting the tablet down on the edge of the projector.

Nodding at Norm's assessment, Jake continued. "Indeed it does. We may know nothing about these other two, but maybe we might be able to talk with this Alejandra Chacon. Max, are we able to communicate live with the _Dark Star_?"

"We'd still have to use the superluminal COMM transceiver to communicate with them since they haven't actually entered this star system yet, but yeah we can talk with them. The question is, do they want to talk with us, or will we get radio silence," Max replied to Jake's question and speculated in the same breath. He was a scientist through and through, always questioning every last detail.

Considering his options, Jake chewed on his lower lip for a moment before he turned to ward Selfridge's office. "Well there's only one way to find out. Can you patch me through in the office? I'd like to see if anyone's home."

"Yeah, just give a moment to orient the dish and we'll see if they're up for conversation." Max replied as he moved to the COMM terminal in the control room.

Jake walked over to Norm. "Would you mind checking to see if Neytiri has arrived yet? If they've made it, tell them I'll be down shortly. Tell them I'm going to try and talk with these tawtute." Jake could see Norm look down at the ground before nodding.

"Yeah, I'll get right on it," he answered before leaving the control room.

Max looked over to Jake as Norm left the room. "Why'd you as Norm to go instead of one of these guys? You know he's practically your second in command."

"I know. I hated having to do that, but we don't even know if this back up captain is related to Trudy or not, and I don't want him to get his hopes up of seeing someone who might not even know who Trudy is," Jake said grimly. "Norm's been through a lot, and I'd hate for him to have anything else rip him up until he's over Trudy enough to move on."

Max nodded before returning to his computer. A few moments later he looked back up. "I've locked onto the _Dark Star_; you can go in Selfridge's office and broadcast any time you want."

"Thanks Max," Jake said patting his friend on the back before heading to former Administrator Parker Selfridge's office. Ducking under the doorway, he entered the office and moved the chair out of the way and sat on the floor. Being ten feet tall had its disadvantages, Jake mused as he adjusted the computer's monitor angle to suit him. He then tapped the screen to wake the slumbering computer.

The computer whirred to life and displayed the login screen. He used his RDA username and password, which had been kept active per his request to Max and Norm the evening he had fully became one of the 'People.' After the computer finished the login process, Jake accessed the superluminal transceiver and initiated a transmission to the _Dark Star_. "This is Jake Sully, leader of the Omaticaya tribe to the _ISV Dark Star_, do you copy?"

He heard nothing but silence. Frowning, Jake was about to repeat himself when the COMM window opened to show a blonde woman. "This is Lieutenant Kristen Lawson of the _ISV Dark Star_, acknowledging transmission from _Hell's Gate_ Admin," she replied curtly to the once-avatar.

_Bitch_, was Jake's first thought of the woman, but at least he'd gotten through. "Is your captain available, _Lieutenant_," he asked adding a little bit of acid to his voice at the end.

She glared at him, and then nodded. "The Captain and Executive Officer are currently in a meeting. I'll have to see if they are willing to engage with you."

"I'll wait," Jake replied. _Oh, so that's how your gonna play, well I can do asshole too_, he thought. _Why don't you come down here? I'd love for you to see what attitude really is_.

Lawson merely nodded. "Very well, I'll see if they _want_ to talk with you."

The screen went blank for a few moments before Lawson returned. "The Captain will speak with you Sully. Transferring you now," she said in the best Ice Queen voice she could manage.

The screen went blank again. Jake found himself rather annoyed with the situation of being put on hold like he was calling some crappy store's customer service department. How ever, his growing impatience was quieted when the screen flicked back on with an image of a woman…a woman he never thought he'd see again.

The woman on the screen had the same dark hair, the same dark eyes, the same Hispanic features, and the same characteristic smirk of the late Trudy Chacon. If he had not known that she was dead, he'd say that this woman was Trudy. The only visible difference was the tired expression she wore instead of Trudy's more lively expression. From her appearance, this woman was routinely pulling late nights and all nighters, and living on pot after pot of coffee.

Jake was torn from his analysis of her face when she cleared her throat, apparently growing impatient from the continued silence from since they connected. "You must be Jake Sully. I'm Alejandra Chacon, Captain of the _ISV Dark Star_. I've been wanting to talk to you," the woman on the screen said.


	4. Diplomacy

A/N: Okay here's chapter 4, the plot thickens eh? Again thanks for the reviews guys. I really appreciate your input and encouragement. This is why it's after 0300 here and I'm still up lol :)

Well without further adieu, please enjoy this chapter. I'm off to bed and I'm not getting up till I wake up.

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**Chapter 4: Diplomacy**

It had been a very rough night for Alejandra. First, she was pulled out of bed on one of the first nights in nearly a week that she had not needed to pull one of her usual all nighters be cause of the lovely FUBAR situation of the RDA losing Pandora to the natives, which would not have happened if they had had competent leadership on the ground. Instead the RDA had in stilled Captain Capitalism and Ranger Retard as the Administrator and head of security at _Hell's Gate_.

Then to add the whip cream to the sundae, she finds out that the one who has to fix this situation is none other than herself. Not to mention, that short of nuking the indigenous population, there was little she could do to retake the planet with her forces. In the past seven hours, she had gone over nearly every tactical scenario conceivable, and every one of them had spelled one thing: F-U-B-A-R. The only victory moves were to nuke several selected sites on Pandora for maximum shock and maximum awe or use the kinetic warheads for a non-nuclear victory, but lucky for the Na'vi these were options she had long eliminated from the table. It wasn't that she had a problem with weapons of mass destruction; it was that she had a problem of using them on innocents. A very contradictory trait since nearly all WMDs used in history had been used in highly populated areas such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, London, Washington D.C., and Beijing, the later three being victims of terrorist attacks in the early and mid twenty-first century.

The next thing that had been eating at Alejandra was her sister. So far she had no luck in finding out if she was safe aboard the _Venture Star_, which made it more likely that she was either working for the Na'vi along with the other humans still on Pandora, or that she was dead. The later possibility made her shudder. _Trudy can't be dead, she's too damn stubborn to be killed_, she had kept telling herself. Her sister was the only family she had left since both of their parents had died a decade back. Trudy had decided shortly after to make a new life on a new world and left for Pandora.

Deciding to follow in her sister's footsteps, Alejandra soon left Earth after finishing her last tour in South America as Captain of the United States Stealth Super Carrier _USS Appalachia_. It had been quite the jump from sea of water to a sea of stars, but worth it in many ways. That is, it was worth it until now. Now she wanted to scream, now she wanted jump back to Earth and beat the living crap out of Nathan Andrews, head of RDA Command, and call Captain Renaldo of the _Venture Star_ and ask him to do the same thing to Parker Selfridge. However, neither of those things was possible, nor would it help the current situation.

Instead, she had spent the several hours with her executive officer going over possible diplomatic scenarios, military scenarios, and other various approaches to solving the Pandora problem. They had just come up with possibly viable idea when they had been interrupted by the on duty COMM officer to notify them that _Hell's Gate_ had just initiated contact with them, and none other than The Jake Sully wanted to talk.

Now she found herself face to face, in a manner of speaking, with the once US Marine Corporal while he simply stared at her. _Wonder why he's doing this in his avatar in stead of in person_, she thought as he continued to stare at her.

After a few moments, she found herself growing tired of the staring contest and decided to break the silence. "You must be Jake Sully," she said before adding, "I'm Alejandra Chacon, Captain of the _ISV Dark Star_. I've been wanting to talk to you." That last part may have been stretching the truth. She did want to talk with him, but she would have preferred to have been more prepared to speak with Sully than she was presently.

For his part, Sully seemed to gather himself quickly. He nodded to her acknowledgement then spoke. "Yes, I am Jake Sully," he said then he must have noticed her staring at him. "I bet you're wondering why I'm in my avatar aren't you?"

"You could say that Corporal Sully," Alejandra replied. "Honestly I was expecting a hu man in a wheelchair in lieu of a Na'vi warrior."

Jake laughed at her assessment. _Good, I can deal with humor_, she thought at his reaction. Maybe this wouldn't be a painful as she had expected, or maybe this was just the tip of the pro verbial iceberg.

"Well I'm sort of permanently in the avatar Captain," he said.

_Permanently in the avatar, what the hell_, Alejandra thought at his answer to her question. "I thought that the avatar link was temporary, Corporal. How'd you get stuck in your avatar? Is your real body dead or something?" Maybe the last question wasn't the best follow up, but _What the hell_, she figured.

"This is my real body," Jake said gesturing to his avatar body. "I chose to become one of the people and go through a rite of passage the Na'vi call 'Passing Through the Eye of Ewya,' which permanently transferred my consciousness into my avatar body, so yeah my human body is dead."

That last part didn't seem to faze him, at least not to Alejandra. _Apparently he's given up on humanity and decided to go full alien hippie_, she thought. The phrase 'this just gets better and better' also flowed through her mind as well, except in a very sarcastic tone.

"Oh and Captain," Sully said looking Alejandra in the eye. "I'm not a Corporal anymore, so you can drop the military honorific."

Alejandra tensed at his tone. _Yep this is going downhill_, her mind told her. "Well then _Corporal_, how would you prefer me address you?"

Jake smiled at the emphasis she applied to his former rank. "Just call me Jake. Everyone else does," he said with a boyish grin.

Relieved that he wasn't going stone asshole on her just yet, she sighed internally. "Alright then _Jake_," she said emphasizing his name but not in a rude or threatening way. "I can work with that. Why don't you call me Alejandra then," she added. _First name basis, maybe this FUBAR situation may have less FUBAR than I thought_.

Her fatigued mind was now racing on how she should handle this situation to keep this…chat civil.

"Alejandra. I think I like that better than just calling you Captain anyway," Jake said. She noticed that he seemed to be less tense than when he'd first connected with her.

Alejandra shifted her position in the chair and looked at her XO before returning her gaze to Jake. "Jake, may I have a moment with my executive officer before we continue?" _Come on give and take Jake, that's how negotiations work_, her mind thought as she asked him.

"Sure, just don't keep me hanging," Jake replied still appearing civil.

Alejandra nodded, "Thank you Jake. I'll be just a moment," she said before muting the transmission.

"Darren," she called. Her XO turned around to face her. He'd been studying a photo of her and Trudy on Earth from when they were children.

"Yes Captain," he said in response.

She sighed. "This may take some time, why don't you go and get some sleep. I don't need more than one officer fatigued at a given time."

"Are you sure Captain? What if negotiations fall apart?"

"If they do," she began, "I'll call you. Go get some sleep; you look like you need it."

Darren chuckled. "Look who's talking Alejandra. You're definitely the 'pot calling the kettle black.'"

She waved him off dismissively as he left. "Yeah, yeah laugh it up; anyway, good night Commander and pleasant dreams."

"Likewise," he replied. The door slid shut and then she was alone with Jake, or rather alone and Jake billions of kilometers away.

Alejandra turned back to her monitor and disabled the mute. "Thank you Jake, I'm sorry it took longer than I intended," she said. She knew that it had been less than minute, but she had to keep him calm if her plan had any chance at success.

"I appreciate your _concern_," Jake replied adding emphasis to 'concern.' Apparently, he was letting her know that this wasn't a social call. This was something she had never forgotten.

"So Jake, I'm really enjoying our conversation, but I would venture that you haven't called me to simply chat. Though I appreciate the fact that you have been receptive to breaking the ice," Alejandra replied as she interlaced her fingers and leaned toward the monitor.

Jake shook his head and inhaled deeply. "I have to admit that this conversation is not proceeding as I had imagined," he said before adding, "but in a good way."

Alejandra nodded at his assessment. "That's good to hear Jake. Why don't we promise each other to do everything possible to ensure this conversation remains as such?"

"I am not willing to promise anything at this point, Alejandra, but I am willing to keep this exchange civil for as long as possible," was Jakes reply to her question.

"Fair enough," Alejandra replied giving Jake a deferential nod.

"So Alejandra, where do we begin," Jake asked.

Alejandra inhaled and then exhaled. _Shit, now the hard part begins_. "Well Jake," she be gan, "I think that I should begin with an official statement before this conversation continues. However, I am fairly confident I know what your response will be to my statement, so I would implore you not to read much into this statement as it is merely a formality."

"What would that be," he asked then added, "Surrender or die?"

"Not exactly," Alejandra continued, "but along similar lines. Like I said, this is merely a formality before we begin our real negotiations. So will you at least humor me?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said as his only reply to her question.

"Thank you Jake." Alejandra said then readjusted her position in her chair and sat upright. She then reached for a piece of paper on her desk and began to read from it.

"As I have assumed responsibility for all actions of the Resource Development Administration on the world of Pandora, I hereby formally request that you, Jake Sully, leader of the Na'vi surrender all RDA assets and hand over those assets to me upon the arrival of my ship into the Alpha Centauri star system. If you accept these terms, I am authorized to grant you immunity from any and all legal actions that would normally be undertaken in a situation such as this. I will also be willing to negotiate a more amicable relationship with the Na'vi in return for the resumption of all mining operations on Pandora," Alejandra read before asking the question that she already knew the answer to. "Do you accept these terms Jake Sully?"

Jake only smiled at her 'official statement.' "Well Captain Alejandra Chacon," he began with an almost sly grin, "Your offer is both generous and kind, but I must formally decline your offer," he said almost mockingly to her statement before taking on a more annoyed appearance. "Are your formalities done?"

"Yes."

"So what now," Jake asked still annoyed.

Alejandra let out a deep breath, "Now we really begin."

Jake crossed his arms at her statement. "Look before you begin, I just want to say that if you are simply going to lead me on and nuke me when you get here, I'd really appreciate you not waste my time with this…_dialog_ and let me enjoy what few days I have left before you begin raping this world again," any and all of his earlier civility vanished now from his face. "I know all about your ship. I know that you are carrying nuclear warheads and kinetic strikers. And I know that you have a full wing of aircraft at your disposal to use against us.

"But I want you to know one thing, _Captain_," he said dropping back into formality, "If you think that you're going to take this planet back while we lie down and die, you are sorely mistaken. Even if I die, and everyone around this base dies, the Na'vi will _never_ give you this planet freely. We will fight until there is no one left to stop you from destroying this world," Jake finished in a very stern voice.

"You listen to me Jake, and listen good," Alejandra began in her response, which made Jake's stern look shift more toward anger. "If, and I say If I wanted to nuke you or strike at you with kinetic warheads, I would _not_ be wasting valuable time that I could be planning for a strike, or better yet getting some sleep instead of sitting up all night and chatting with you about your change in lifestyles and your little forest friends.

"I know you don't trust me…"

"You're damn right I don't," Jake interrupted.

"And I don't trust you as far as I could throw your skinny blue ass," Alejandra continued sternly, "but I'm not about to destroy your world. I'm not here, right now, talking with you to only betray you later. I'm not Selfridge, and I'm sure as hell not Quaritch, but I'm not stupid. I know that your people will _never_ allow us to simply land and mine your world and that you will fight us the whole way. I also want you to know that I do not, I repeat, I do not have a large enough military force to fight you and your people. Even if I intended to, you already control all of the viable landing zones where I could properly maintenance and _refuel_ my military assets, which would force me to deplete my reserves I have aboard _this_ ship. My best estimates are that you would overrun my forces within a month if I engaged in either a ground or aerial battle. My only victory options have already been wiped from the table, so diplomacy is all I have left as I am _not_ willing to sacrifice my men and women in a vain attempt to ensure the RDA turns a _god damn_ profit.

"That being said," her face softened some, "I want to find a peaceful solution that benefits us both."

Jake snorted at her speech, but his face also softened some. "What are you proposing, Alejandra," he asked saying her first name instead of her honorific.

To Alejandra, it seemed that their hostilities may be over…for now at least. "I propose that you allow me to send down a small contingent of troops when I arrive to secure and occupy some of the RDA's periphery assets and the administration wing of _Hell's Gate_, and in return I am willing to give you and your people food and medical supplies…maybe even a Samson or two if negotiations do not deteriorate."

"No deal," Jake retorted. "I'm not allowing you to gain a foothold anywhere on this world."

Alejandra nodded to his response. She wasn't surprised that he would deny this request, but as with any negotiator worth their salt, she was starting high with her requests and would allow him to whittle her down to the request she was really intending to pursue. "Okay fair enough, I understand that you would not want any opposing military force operating in your territory, but would you at least be willing to grant me the ability to allow some personnel to land at _Hell's Gate_ and set up shop under your people's supervision?

"I have over five hundred people aboard this ship, and it would not be fair to them to force them to remain aboard, and keeping them in cryo for the duration of my stay in Alpha Centauri is not…desirable." She didn't think that he'd go for this one either, but again this was just one stop along the way to what she really wanted to pursue.

Jake shook his head. "I'm not willing to allow you to deploy a large number of people here, even if they are under _our_ supervision. You'll just have to make due on your ship, or keep them in cryo stasis."

"Alright, then will you at least accept this. I propose you allow me to send down one, I repeat, one person down to the surface, _Hell's Gate_ specifically, to negotiate with you in per son," Alejandra continued. This was what she really wanted, and she would not let him say no to this request.

"I'm not comfortable with any of _your_ people down here," Jake began but was interrupted.

"Wait Jake," Alejandra put her hands up in a calming gesture, "Surely you can allow _one_ person. Just one, that's all I asking. Just allow me to send down one of my Valkyries with a negotiator of _my_ choosing. One person plus two pilots are all I'm asking. The pilots will merely fly the Valkyrie down to _Hell's Gate_ drop off my negotiator, refuel, and then return to this ship. In return for granting this request, I'm still willing to ship down supplies to your people and the humans who live at the base."

Alejandra watched him consider the proposal. _Good he's hesitating_, she thought. "All you'll have to do is talk with this person, and allow them to communicate with their progress to me."

"One person," he asked holding up one of his long fingers.

"One person," she nodded. "I think it's a pretty good deal from your perspective Jake."

Jake's face hardened again, "This better not be a ploy."

"No ploy, Jake. I know you don't trust me, but humanity has already burnt enough bridges with the Na'vi. How about the two of us drive the _first_ nails in the _first_ new bridge be tween _our_ two peoples? This could be a new beginning, for _all_ of us. Let me _earn_ your trust, that's all I'm asking," Alejandra spoke emphasizing words for effect. _Come on Jake, come on boy, I know you're thinking about it. I know you don't want another war on your hands as well…_

"Fine," Jake said nodding his head. "One person, no more," Jake said emphasizing his statement by holding up a lone solitary finger.

Alejandra nodded, "Thank you Jake. I will endeavor to ensure you do not regret this."

"For your negotiator's sake, I hope you bear that in mind," Jake responded.

"It will never leave my mind Jake. Now, since we have reached an agreement I really, re ally need some sleep. If there is nothing more you would like to discuss at this moment, I would like to retire for the remainder of the night," Alejandra said unable to suppress the yawn that she'd been holding for quite some time now.

"Very well," Jake responded.

Alejandra allowed relief to grace her tired face. "Thank you again Jake. Before I go, I would ask one more question."

"And that would be?"

"It will be nearly seven days before my ship arrives, would you be willing for me to con tact you say at noon your time, everyday? This would be 1700 hours Universal Coordinated Time," Alejandra requested.

"Why noon, and for what reason," Jake asked allowing some of his earlier humor to re turn in his voice.

Alejandra smiled. "Easy, to maintain dialog with you, and noon local time because right now it may only be 2130 hours your time, but it's nearly zero-four-thirty here aboard this ship, and I've have not had a decent night's sleep in five-and-a-half days."

Jake's attitude seemed to shift to a much more good natured humor, "Well then you bet ter get some sleep because I doubt you're going to get much rest in the near future."

"You can say that again," Alejandra responded exasperatedly.

Jake nodded, "Good night Alejandra."

"Good night Jake," Alejandra said and then disconnected the transmission. _Well that went a whole lot better than I'd hoped_, her mind told her. She stood from her desk and stretched. As she stretched she felt and heard her joints pop. _Time to go to bed_, she told herself. She reached down and tapped the CIC COMMs. "Actual to CIC," she said to her terminal.

"CIC here, Captain," the on duty officer said.

"I'm just letting you know that the negotiations have proceeded smoothly and I'm going to get some rack time. You wouldn't mind letting me and Fisher sleep in a little, would you?"

The officer simply grinned, "As long as you approve my overtime, I've got no problem with it."

"That's what I wanted to hear," Alejandra said before closing the window. She then turned from her desk and stripped out of her jumpsuit, removed the rubber band from her hair and crawled back into bed once she was reduced to her underwear. "Lights out," she muttered to the computer. The lights winked off leaving her in a room that was only lit by the glow her computer. Within moments, she was fast asleep.


	5. Legends

A/N: Okay guys here's chapter 5. As always thank you for the reviews and enthusiasm with this story. Seeing you all happy is my goal, so I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones, and I hope to be back on here soon with another update :) One thing I'd like to note though before I sign off and post this chapter. I realize that there are a few words that have odd spaces in them on occasion. This is from Microsoft Word's hyphenation feature. I've turned it on for when I print the document on paper here at home, but it's just not compatible with this site's HTML coding for some reason :) I've tried to pick out most of the words and correct them before posting my chapters, but I may miss some, so bear with me :)

Anyway, enjoy :D

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**Chapter 5: Legends**

For several minutes after the transmission ended, Jake stared at the blank monitor that had previously displayed the _Dark Star's_ commanding officer who had been anything but what he'd expected. Of course, he hadn't expected much to begin with. He hadn't expected that the tawtute to even talk, nor had the ship's Captain been what he'd expected.

Again, he hadn't known what to expect, but he thought that the _Dark Star's_ CO was some guy named Richard Matthews. Instead, he talked with a very diplomatic woman who could've been Trudy's doppelganger. _Trudy, why'd you never tell me you had a sister_, he thought. Of course Alejandra had never confirmed anything on her end either. It had been real hard not to mention Trudy during their _conversation_, as Alejandra had put it, but he'd decided that then was not the time to bring up his now deceased friend.

As much as he hated to play dirty, he also knew that Trudy could serve another purpose…a purpose that made his stomach turn. But if it meant keeping Pandora safe he'd use Trudy as leverage against Alejandra. If Alejandra knew about Trudy's decision to side with the Na'vi, then maybe he could use Trudy to plant seeds of doubt in Alejandra's garden of resolve. If he could weaken her loyalty to the RDA, even just a little, then maybe the tawtute captain could become an ally rather than enemy.

However, everything he'd considered during and in the moments since speaking with Alejandra Chacon hinged on her not betraying him. For all he knew, she had been leading him on, making him comfortable, and guiding him in an attempt at lowering his guard. Bearing that in mind, he would have to remain vigilant when speaking with her, which would be a difficult task. Like Trudy, she was very likable. More than once, he actually thought he was speaking with his friend instead of an enemy commander.

Jake was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Max enter the office. Max walked over to Jake and tapped him on his left bicep. "So how'd it go Jake," Max asked interrupting Jake's internal conversation with himself.

Snapping back to reality, Jake looked down to the scientist. "I don't know Max. I guess it went well."

"Well as in…"

"As in maybe we're not dead in the water yet," Jake finished. He moved to stand up, but had to rub some feeling back into his legs as they had fallen asleep while he spoke to Alejandra. "Max do you know if Neytiri and the elders have arrived yet?"

Max nodded, "Yeah Norm called me about fifteen minutes ago. They've set up shop in the avatar compound. They've built a fire and are presently preparing their evening meal."

"Good. Max, tell Norm that I'm on my way there now," Jake said standing up success fully this time.

Leaving the control room, Jake decided to take the long way down to the avatar com pound located at the rear of the _Hell's Gate_ complex. The long and silent walk allowed him to clear his mind and formulate how he would speak to his tribe regarding the humans' imminent arrival. Then there was Norm, his closest human friend. He didn't know how Norm would take finding out Trudy had a twin sister. _Unless Trudy had a clone of herself made for some reason_, he thought and shuddered at the thought. Even now in the mid twenty-second century, cloning people still garnered controversy with most of humanity.

He knew that the likelihood that Trudy had cloned herself versus having a twin sister was astronomically small, but at this point he wouldn't put anything past the RDA. _Well for better or worse Sully, you've got a date with whoever she sends down here in a week_, he heard his internal voice say to him as he reached one of the many airlocks in the building. Jake stepped over the threshold and sealed himself in, allowed the room to cycle, and stepped outside for the first time in at least an hour. Since he'd started in Dr. Augustine's avatar program several months ago, he'd spent most of his waking hours outside, in a manner of speaking, and had grown to despise being inside. It was so refreshing being out in the open air, to feel the warm sun on your skin, the cool rain and the comforting wind on a warm day. Now he felt pity for those like Alejandra or Max who weren't able to spend their days outside. _At least Max could come out on occasion_, he thought.

However, the dark haired and bearded scientist rarely left the Administration building most days. Jake believed that it was because Max just wasn't a fan of the great outdoors. As he walked toward the avatar compound, Jake didn't realize that he was being stalked. He didn't realize until it was too late, and he'd been tackled by a certain female Na'vi.

"My Jhake," was all he heard as he hit the soft ground of the gardens outside the com pound. An instant later, he found himself being attacked, in a manner of speaking, by his mate as she kissed and clung to him like it had been more than a year since they had last seen one another.

"Neytiri," he said sitting up and looking into her golden eyes, "I see you, my love," replied to her _greeting_. She was exactly the person he needed to see right now.

"I see you my Jhake," Neytiri repeated the Na'vi phrase that could mean many things, but right now it clearly meant _I love you_. Jake loved how she always said '_My Jhake_' when she referred to him. It was just one a million things he loved about Neytiri, and reassured him that all the choices he'd made recently were the right ones.

He could tell that Neytiri wanted nothing more than to take him away right now and do things he wouldn't feel comfortable sharing with anyone else, but they would have to wait…for now at least. _Maybe later_, he hoped.

Their little moment over, she pulled him to his feet and the pair walked toward the fire burning in front of the avatar compound's bunkhouse.

When they reached fire, they saw Mo'at and Norm conversing in fluid Na'vi while the other Na'vi elders and hunters that had followed Neytiri here partook of their evening meal, which was a combination of some of the vegetables and fruits grown at the garden and roasted viperwolf, or nantang as it was called by the Na'vi, meat. One of the hunters offered Jake bowl of food, which he gladly took. _I don't remember eating today_, he thought as his stomach rum bled. Neytiri also took a serving of food joined Jake as he walked over to where Norm and Mo'at were seated.

Norm nodded to Jake as he and Neytiri sat down. Mo'at smiled at the two before ad dressing Jake. "JhakeSulley," she said his name in her highly accented English. "My son, why do you call us to this tawtute place this night?" Since Jake and Neytiri had mated, she had grown to accept Jake as the son she had never had.

Swallowing a vegetable that looked and tasted conspicuously like a carrot, Jake drank from a Na'vi sized bottle of water Norm handed him. He cleared his throat and replied. "Mother," he called her before continuing, "I have summoned you and the elders here because I was told by Norm this afternoon that more tawtute are coming to the world." With the words _tawtute_ and _coming_, the entire crowd stopped eating and looked to Jake.

"Are you sure of this," Mo'at asked, worry creeping into her face. "How do they come so soon JhakeSulley?"

Jake knew that Mo'at recognized that it was too soon for more the arrival of more humans. Normally, this was an event that only occurred biannually. "I believe that this ship is coming here early because the former tawtute leaders knew that a war was coming, and they wanted stronger warriors and weapons to defeat the People."

Mo'at sat her bowl down and looked to Norm. "NormSpellman is what my son says true," she asked the scientist.

Norm nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid that Jake is accurate. This ship has weapons far more powerful than any your people have ever seen the Sky People use before."

"These weapons," Jake continued where Norm left off, "are so powerful that even I could not defend against them," he stated referring to his victory at the Tree of Souls as the Omaticaya Toruk Makto. "They have things called nuclear warheads that can destroy entire areas the length of a many days walk in all directions, but they also have many warriors aboard that are equally as strong as the ones we fought before." He had thought of mentioning the kinetic warheads, but he doubted that his people would understand the difference between nukes and kinetic devices. _Better stick with what they will understand_, he added to himself.

Jake noticed that it had become silent since he'd mentioned the infamous n-word that had petrified humans with fear for over two hundred years since the first one was tested in the western United States near the conclusion of the Second World War. Mo'at's eyes widened at the thought of an area as far as the eye could see being destroyed. However, she didn't know that the destruction wasn't the worst part of a nuclear detonation. The worst part was the radioactive aftermath that followed. "If they use these nuclear warheads, Mother, the places they destroy would be rendered dead for many generations. No one could return for fear of dying from the poison these weapons leave behind," Jake said trying to describe radiation as best he could to someone who had no understanding of modern chemistry and physics.

"Why would the tawtute use these nookclear warheads when they would destroy them selves along with us," Mo'at asked as a follow up to Jake's description of deadly weapons.

Norm shook his head and answered instead, "Because they wouldn't destroy themselves Mo'at. They could deploy the nukes from orbit in their Sky Ship." Like Jake, Norm didn't think that the Na'vi really understood the difference between the sky and space. For them space was just a higher place in the sky than they could reach.

At Norm's declaration one of the warriors stood and grabbed his bow, "We must prepare for war JhakeSulley," he said in Na'vi, which drew excited cheers from the other hunters in the group.

"Wait," Jake called back in response and gesturing for the hunters to sit back down. "Let me finish before jump to conclusions." This calmed them some as they reseated themselves, but the atmosphere remained tense. "I've talked with the tawtute leader," Jake said gesturing toward the Administration building behind them, which was brightly lit and still buzzing with activity. "She seems not to desire war any more than we do. Though I don't trust her, she has given me her word that she will not use these terrible weapons against us."

Neytiri, who had been silent so far, turned to her mate. "You believe this tawtute leader my Jhake," she asked her mate incredulously. She watched Jake nod to her in acknowledgement. "Why you believe what Sky Demon say," she retorted in her broken English.

"I believe her because of who she is related to," Jake confessed and watched the color drain from Norm's face as he said it.

Norm slumped. "Trudy," was all he said.

"Yes Norm, I believe the _Dark Star's_ captain is Trudy's identical twin sister."

"Are you sure," Norm asked in return.

Jake shook his head, "She didn't confirm it, nor did I ask, but she's definitely a Chacon Norm." Jake turned to Mo'at. "You trusted me. You trusted the pilot Trudy. I think that we may be able to trust the new tawtute leader. She's too much like her sister, I can already tell," Jake continued and turned to his mate. "Neytiri, she has a strong heart like some other tawtute fool you saved not too long ago."

This caused his mate to smile and blush. She reached and took his hand cupped her face in it. "I trust my Jhake to do the right thing because of his strong heart. If he says to trust this tawtute, I will," she said closing her eyes as he pulled her closer to him.

Mo'at pursed her lips in thought. "How long till they come?"

Jake sighed. "From what Norm and Max have told me, we have seven days to prepare for the _Dark Star's_ arrival." With his assessment of their time, he watched Mo'at stand and turn to ward the bunkhouse.

"JhakeSulley, I must speak with you alone about this _Dark Star_," she said and walked into the empty building.

Jake gave Norm and Neytiri one more look before he left and joined Mo'at inside building. Outside, the group slowly returned to eating. Norm and Neytiri moved toward one another and began to talk as she finished her meal.

Inside, he found Mo'at sitting on the floor of the dark room painting symbols onto the floor with a dark pigment. He couldn't tell what color it was due to the lack of available light. "Sit JhakeSulley," she commanded.

Jake sat in front of her and looked at the objects she was painting, which resembled cave paintings that human archeologists had discovered on Earth in recent centuries.

"You do not know of ancient Na'vi legends my son," she said matter-of-factually.

Jake nodded in agreement. "Neytiri has taught me only a few legends of the People."

"I doubt Neytiri would know of the legend of the Txon Tanhì, or Night Star as your people would call it. Not even the elders know of this tale, which is why I tell you and you alone JhakeSulley," Mo'at said finishing her painting on the room's floor.

"In the time before time, JhakeSulley, one of the first People spoke of a warrior," Mo'at began pointing to a figure standing on what appeared to be the ground, "who would summon the Txon Tanhì, the Night Star during a time of great need." Mo'at traced her finger from the figure to a star in the sky that had been painted dark in what represented the sky in her painting. "Once summoned, the Txon Tanhì would become the brightest star in the sky and usher in a New Dawn for our people from the Gray Jewel in the Sky," she finished pointing to another object that was clearly Pandora's closet moon, relative to the gas giant Polyphemus.

"You think the _Dark Star_ is the Txon Tanhì," Jake asked.

Mo'at nodded.

Jake looked puzzled at Mo'at. "How can that be? The _Dark Star_ is ship, not a star. How will a tawtute ship usher in a New Dawn from the moon," he asked the spiritual leader of the Omaticaya.

"I know not, JhakeSulley. All I know is that this is a time of great need, and you are our strongest warrior. Perhaps, you and this Sky Ship are the warrior and the Txon Tanhì of legend, but I wanted you to know this," she said tapping his forehead. Then she gestured to the group outside, "Speak only to your mate and NormSpellman about this and no one else," she com manded.

With that, she stood from her position and turned to go back outside, then turned back to Jake, "You have a destiny my son. I cannot say what it is for certain, but you will either lead us to salvation or death. Whatever our fate, you will lead us to the right end JhakeSulley."

Jake sat there stunned as she left the bunkhouse. He found himself staring at Mo'at's painting of the _Txon Tanhì_ for a long time after she left. It wasn't until Neytiri joined him in the room that he found he could look away from the painting.

"What is it my Jhake," she asked in a concerned voice.

"I don't know," was his only reply.


	6. Dreams

A/N: Ah it's time for another update ladies and gentlemen. Again, thank you for the reviews and enthusiasm you have shown toward this story. I'm really glad you all are enjoying reading this story as it has been a pleasure to write. Your happiness gives me happiness, so without any more delays, here's Chapter 6. Enjoy! Oh and who can find the 2001: A Space Odyssey reference? :3

Okay, small update. I looked at the layout, and noticed that the extra spaces I'd left in Word for the transitions from Points of View were not present here. Oops, well I've added in some horizontal lines to allow for easier transition markers :)

I hope to have the next chapter up soon, but it may be late since it's Mom's Day and all :)

* * *

**Chapter 6: Dreams**

It was after 1030 before Alejandra woke, more than two hours later than she intended, but there was thankfully not much happening on today's duty roster other than the continued braking maneuvers the _Dark Star_ was making to achieve a successful Pandoran orbit. In three days, they would enter the Alpha Centauri system.

When the _Dark Star_ arrived, they would execute a slingshot-braking maneuver around the star Alpha Centauri C. This maneuver would take the ship around the star and angle the ship on a trajectory toward Pandora. It would take an additional three days before they reached the world of Pandora though as they would have shed most of their velocity during the slingshot around Alpha Centauri C.

Alejandra slowly extracted herself out of bed and stretched. Her joints were stiff from sleep and she was in need of a shower. She stripped out of her underwear and headed for the small shower at the far end of the small cabin. Within ten minutes, she had bathed, cleaned her teeth, and was dressed in a clean uniform.

After she was finished, Alejandra left her cabin and headed for the mess hall for her usual cup of coffee and bowl of fruit. She preferred a light breakfast in lieu of a heavier meal in the mornings, saving either lunch or dinner for her heavier meal during the day.

After finishing breakfast, she headed for the CIC, which was abuzz with activity as the officers completed their tasks with efficiency and pride. The same officer she spoke with earlier this morning was still in command and saluted her as she stepped into the room. Alejandra re turned the salute and relieved him of his duty before assuming the watch.

A few moments later, she was joined by her XO who walked right up to her. "Good morning Captain," he said using her honorific in front of the crew. "I trust things went well last night."

Nodding, Alejandra smiled. "It went better than I believed it would, but I fear this is only beginning of our troubles Commander."

"Did you reach an agreement with Sully?"

She stood and walked over to the ship's master systems display, which had the previous night displayed Captain Renaldo, Nathan Andrews, and Administrator Selfridge when she had Darren summon them for the briefing regarding the current _political situation_ on Pandora. "He agreed to allow me to send down a negotiator," she said rubbing her hand across the monitor.

"Does he know you're going to be the negotiator?"

Alejandra shook her head. "No, but he probably suspects."

"You know, if this plan of yours goes south, you'll be in his custody and there will be lit tle we can do that wouldn't result in your death as well as theirs," Darren retorted as he joined her at the monitor. On the screen, the _Dark Star_ was displayed as a rotating wireframe model as data streamed across the screen, reporting the current status of the ship's various systems.

Alejandra nodded. "Yeah I know, but all negotiations have risk in them. It's just a matter of taking the right risks at the right time." The two stood in companionable silence for a moment before she turned to face Darren. "Would you mind watching things up here for a while? I've got some business to take care of."

"Sure Captain, no problem. Do you have anything that you want me to complete before your return," he asked calmly. "Or do you just want me to stand up like I usually do and look pretty?"

That statement drew a laugh out of her. "No," Alejandra began, "but I think you should ride the staff a bit more. They haven't been whistling enough while they work." She said it loud enough so the whole command staff could hear her. Of course it was all in jest, as they were a good crew. It was just necessary to ease tension with humor on occasion.

"Just admit Captain, I'm pretty and you know it," Darren added in his best sarcastic tone.

Alejandra just snorted. "Yeah, you're pretty annoying."

"Ooh burned," the on duty navigation officer said from across the room.

"Shut up Ensign," Darren yelled playfully before looking back at Alejandra. "Yeah we've got it up here." His face then turned serious, "Just remember that once you're down there, there's little we can do."

"I know," Alejandra said turning toward the CIC's main entrance. As she exited, she could hear Darren Fisher strike up a conversation with a certain attractive young Lieutenant Commander that worked at the Operations station.

Walking down the main corridor of the rotating Command Sector, Alejandra spotted the Bio Lab toward the _bottom_ end of the rotating section. Inside, the lab housed a number pods filled with artificially maintained Na'vi amniotic fluid, and inside each pod floated the naked body of an avatar. On another side of the room was a small one avatar-decanting chamber. The remaining corners of the room held a series of gurneys where the decanted avatars would be _parked_ and connected to an IV for nutrition and hydration. There were also five link chambers for the avatar drivers to operate their _units_.

However, she wasn't there to admire the floating blue bodies…no matter how attractive some of them were. Walking over to one of the female avatars, she peered into the tank and looked at its distinctly Hispanic face and features. In response, the avatar twitched as the pod sent an electric jolt through its umbilical cord and stimulated _her_ muscles to prevent atrophy. Every time she saw her avatar, she got this weird feeling that she couldn't place. It was like she was looking at her body asleep and comfortable in its pod while she its dream.

She stared at the not-being for a moment longer as it periodically twitched and floated be fore her. Then, gathering enough strength to focus, Alejandra checked the _unit's_ status to make sure that it was physically ready for use. "Just making sure you're a-okay," she said to the avatar as the pod's small screen displayed the avatar's vital signs. "Got a feeling that you and me are going to spending a lot of time together in the near future," Alejandra continued as she finished reading over the screen.

Alejandra knew that talking to her avatar was really a waste of time. However, being stuck on a ship that had a livable space about the size of a high school gymnasium, which housed a little over twenty active staff members, was enough to drive anyone loony after a while. After she finished her task, she gave her avatar one more look and left the Bio Lab and headed toward the middle section of the rotating command section.

As she neared the _Dark Star's_ lateral axis, she felt herself begin to float free of the floor. There was no artificial gravity along this section of the ship since the middle sector of the command section barely moved in relation to the module's spin. The spin itself did not generate gravity, just centrifugal and centripetal force to keep you on your feet. These forces were strong est at the ends of the section and weakest at the center. The variable gravity was enough to make anyone sick to their stomach; hence the barf bags positioned inside cleanup kits along the walls.

Opening a round airlock, Alejandra pulled herself horizontally into the midline of the ship. Using handgrips, she floated along one side of the wall until she reached the Cryo Bay One and entered through the entrance _above_ her. Inside, she saw a couple of techs floating about as they checked the status of the inhabitants lying dormant inside each of their own little refrigeration units. On her way to the nearest tech, she didn't even pay attention as she passed an empty unit labeled _A. Chacon_ before passing yet another empty pod labeled _R. Matthews_. The tech, a man named Wallace Petrovsky, looked at her as she floated up to him. "Need something Captain," he asked as she braced herself against one of the pods.

"Yeah Wally," she acknowledged using his nickname, "I need you to wake up a couple of the Valkyrie pilots. I don't know if you heard, but I'm taking a little vacation down to the nine levels of Hell in a few days and I need somebody to ferry my happy ass down there."

Wally only smiled and shook his head. "How soon do you need them?"

"We'll be arriving at Pandora six days from now, so at least by tomorrow," she answered. "I need to meet with them and bring them up to speed on how things are going to progress."

Wally nodded and added a note on his tablet. "Sure thing Captain, I'll let you know as soon as their defrosted."

"Thanks," Alejandra replied as she turned to head back toward the midline. "Now I've just got to requisition the supplies I'm going to take with us on the little _pleasure cruise_."

Wally waved at her as she pulled herself out of the room and into the ship's lateral spine.

* * *

Jake awoke to find Neytiri already up and staring at Mo'at's painting on the bunkhouse's floor. _Speak only to your mate and NormSpellman about this_; he heard Mo'at's say in his mind again. He intended to speak with Neytiri about this, but he believed that Norm would be a better person to try first.

_But how am I going to approach this with him without sounding like an idiot_, he asked himself.

"Good morning my Jhake," Neytiri said looking away from the painting and moving to sit next to him on the bunk. She noticed the preoccupation in his face. "What troubles you my Jhake," she asked wrapping her arm around him.

Jake met her gaze. He couldn't lie to her, she'd see right through it. "I'm just thinking about what Mo'at said to me last night," he said trying to look cheerful.

"She talk about that," Neytiri asked pointing to the painting on the floor in a level of bro ken English that would make any grammar teacher cringe, but he just found it cute.

"Yeah, something like that," replied Jake before kissing her gently. Since his transformation from human to Na'vi, the two had been very intimate with each other; something he hoped didn't fade with time. "It's something to do with the tawtute ship…at least I think it does," he elaborated as he moved some of her dark hair behind her ears so it wouldn't hide her too beautiful face from him.

Neytiri smiled in response to his attention, and then concern returned to her face. "What did Mother say to you?"

Jake bit down on his lower lip as he recalled the legend. "She said that long ago during the time of the first People, someone told of a warrior summoning something called the _Txon Tanhì_, Night Star, and it would usher in a New Dawn from the Gray Jewel in the Sky.

"She thinks that the tawtute ship, which is named the _Dark Star,_ could be this _Txon Tanhì_."

"Maybe the answer isn't the tawtute ship my Jhake," Neytiri said studying the painting. Specifically, she was studying the Gray Jewel. "Maybe you should look to the Jewel for your answers."

Jake considered it for a moment. "Summon the New Dawn from the Gray Jewel in the Sky, eh," Jake speculated. "I was considering speaking with Norm about this legend. Maybe the RDA's equipment could help out there."

Neytiri stood and gathered her bow and arrows and her hunting knives. "I will speak to Mother about the _Txon Tanhì_; you speak to NormSpellman about the tawtute ship and the Gray Jewel."

After she had her equipment she walked back to Jake and embraced him. "I see you, my Jhake," she said holding him tight.

"I see you my Neytiri."

They held each other for a long moment before Neytiri let go and left to see Mo'at. Jake looked after her for a moment and then left the bunkhouse as well. He headed for the Administration building where Norm would most likely be. He would use the avatar showers to bathe himself and then he would seek Norm out and ask him about using the _Hawking Space Telescope_ to look over the nearest moon for anything that might shine any light on the New Dawn.

After he spoke with the scientist, he would probably have to head for the Control Room as it would most likely be nearing noon.

* * *

Alejandra looked her wrist chronometer as she floated _down_ the docking umbilical where Valkyrie One-Six resided. It read 15:47, which gave her a little over an hour to finish up before contacting Sully. So far she had had a busy morning and afternoon. After leaving Cryo Bay One, she had requisitioned several months' worth of food and medicine that would be loaded into Valkyrie One-Six. From there she had looked over a small problem from one of her engineers, which they concluded could wait till they were in orbit around Pandora. The engineers could then go EVA and repair a damaged short range COMM device known as the Alpha Echo Thirty five Unit.

After leaving the engineer, she headed for Valkyrie One-Six. Once inside, she powered the craft up and ran several diagnostics and integrity checks to ensure the shuttle would be ready for leaving the _Dark Star_ in a few days.

During the long diagnostic process, she had accidentally drifted off to sleep in the pilot's chair of the Valkyrie. While asleep, she had dreamed a peculiar dream.

In the dream, she found herself walking down a street in one of Earth's many mega-cities. It was a clear night and people were going about their business while brightly lit advertiscreens displayed the latest and greatest of various products offered by the many corporations on Earth, Luna, and Mars. However, a moment later the familiarity shifted to something more frightening. Alejandra had rounded a bend and began down another block of the city, except there were no lights and no people. She looked behind her, but everyone was gone and the bright lights behind her were gone as well. She looked up and the buildings were crumbling and looked to have been neglected for centuries. The sky was a dark brown as black clouds floated over the long dead city.

The dream shifted again, and she found herself at _Hell's Gate_ on Pandora, but like the city before it was long abandoned. The sky here was also brown with black clouds. The only light and color was coming dimly from what little of the gas giant Polyphemus she could see through the thick cloud cover. In her dream both Earth and Pandora were dead.

The dream shifted once more, and she found herself on a lunar surface. She could see the dead world of Pandora before her with the bright blue of Polyphemus as a back drop. She reached out her hand and realized that she wasn't wearing a space suit. She panicked. However, she was calmed by a familiar voice. _Relax_, the voice said in her mind. Alejandra looked around to see where the voice was coming from, and discovered a figure in the distance. Instinctively, she ran toward it.

As she neared the figure, it resolved into her avatar. "Follow me," it said in her voice. No it wasn't her voice, it was Trudy's voice. She followed the Trudy-avatar figure toward a crater in the distance. When they reached the edge of the crater, the Trudy-avatar pointed down to center of the crater.

Alejandra peered down and saw…

That was all she could remember of the dream. Before she could see whatever it was at the bottom of the crater, the Valkyrie's computer beeped, signaling the successful completion of its diagnostic test, and waking her in the same instant.

As Alejandra entered the command module, she couldn't shake the eerie feeling she had awoken with on the Valkyrie. However, she would have to compartmentalize it for another time when she didn't have the RDA, Na'vi, and the weight of commanding billions of dollars in tax payer money on her shoulders.

* * *

Jake was so glad to have taken that hot shower. He felt so much better than he had when he first woke up this morning. Normally, he and Neytiri bathed in a river or lake together, and usually turned into more than just bath time, which didn't bother him at all.

Norm was in the control room, hovering over the holo projector. It was currently dis playing the current weather patterns near _Hell's Gate_. He was overlaying the image with advanced weather models to see what to expect for the next few days when he looked up at Jake. "Hey Jake, need something," he asked pushing away from the table.

"Yeah Norm, I could use a favor if you have time." Jake walked over to the table to join Norm.

Norm could tell that his friend had something on his mind. "What's up?"

Jake was silent for a moment then began. "You remember last night when Mo'at called me into the bunkhouse," he asked.

Norm nodded. "Yeah and you were acting strangely after she left. Is this about what you two talked about?"

"Yeah, you could say that. She told me about an ancient Na'vi legend about something called the _Txon Tanhì_."

Scratching his chin, Norm looked down. "Well Txon Tanhì literally means Night Star when you translate it to English, but what's…oh the _Dark Star_."

"Right Norm, she said that in a time of need, a warrior would summon the Night Star. Then this Night Star would shine brighter than any other star and bring forth the New Dawn from the moon, she called it the Gray Jewel in the Sky," Jake said reciting the legend to Norm. However, he left out most of the Na'vi words in lieu of English with his friend. "Does this make any sense to you?"

Norm mumbled the legend again to himself. "I don't know Jake. I fail to see how a star ship has any connection with the moon. The shining part could mean that the _Dark Star's_ matter/antimatter containment system failed, which would destroy the ship in a violent explosion, or perhaps they nuke the moon for some strange reason," he speculated.

Jake shrugged, "Yeah I don't have a clue either, but Neytiri suggested maybe the answer is on the moon and not the ship."

"There's one problem though, Jake," Norm interjected. "We can't get to the moon with the equipment we have here."

Jake shook his head in agreement. "No, but we can look at with the _Hawking Space Telescope_."

Norm smiled as he considered it for a moment. "Yeah we could us the telescope. We could get some pretty high-res images of the moon, but it'd take days to complete. Then there's the fact that the telescope is in orbit of Pandora, and the moon's tidally locked to us. We'd only be able to see the day side of the moon from orbit." Norm brought up a model of Pandora and the moon. He then displayed the _Hawking Space Telescope's_ current position. "I'd have to wait till she comes around to this side of Pandora before initiating the scan," he said keying in the commands to display when the satellite would be overhead.

"Well, that's better than nothing," Jake replied. "How soon can you get on it?"

Norm pursed his lips before replying. "It'll take about three hours for the satellite to come into range for lunar observation, but I could begin sending it instructions anytime. I'll just have to head down to Stellar Cartography in the Science Wing."

"Thanks Norm, I owe you," Jake answered.

"Nah, it'll give me something to do since I can't go out and collect cell samples with my avatar down and all," replied Norm smiling as he reached for his tablet. "Hey Jake will you be up here for a little while?"

"Yeah, I've got to speak with _Dark Star_ in a few minutes. Why, do you need something," Jake asked.

"If you don't mind, Max might come up here in a bit, and I bet he'll want to know where I am. Just tell I'm in Stellar if you don't mind," Norm replied as he gathered the last of his things.

Jake nodded as he turned toward _the_ office, "Yeah Norm, be more than glad to."

"Thanks Jake," Norm said as he left the control room.

Seating himself in front of the computer terminal as he had the evening before, Jake waited impatiently until the computer chimed in that it was receiving a superluminal COMM burst from the _ISV Dark Star_. _Here we go again_, he thought as he tapped the Accept button on the terminal's screen.


	7. Preparations

A/N: Okay here's chapter 7. I'm sorry I took so long in posting. With Mom's Day and the other stuff I've had to do since yesterday, I've not been able to right as much as I'd like. Hence the late night submission. :) I hope you all enjoy this chapter. In the next chapter, Alejandra will arrive on Pandora and she'll discover Trudy's fate. How will she take it? Well stay tuned and find out :)

* * *

**Part Two: Pandora**

**Chapter 7: Preparations**

Jake found himself walking around the perimeter of _Hell's Gate_ triple checking the surface-to-air missile sites he'd chosen for tomorrow's guest. Each SAM site was placed strategically to offer clear line of site of the Valkyrie shuttle as it approached _Hell's Gate_ tomorrow morning when the _Dark Star_ arrived at Pandora. He hoped that the missiles would not be necessary, but he wasn't about to _caught without his 'loincloth'_ when Alejandra dropped the ball on them and landed scores of troops two of her three Valkyries to retake the base.

Jake didn't think that she would betray him, but he didn't think that Quaritch had enough gall to both destroy the Omaticaya hometree _and_ assault the Tree of Souls. He'd been proven wrong on both counts. However, Quaritch had been predicable. Alejandra was anything but predictable. The first time he'd talked with the captain, there had been a number of tense moments between them as they had agreed upon their current arrangement.

This arrangement was something he had reluctantly agreed to. He'd agreed to allow her to send down one Valkyrie loaded with one person who would serve as a negotiator between him and the RDA. However, letting the Valkyrie land was a risk. She could easily hide about a hundred troops in the shuttle's bay, or God forbid an armed nuclear device, which was why he'd ordered a number of manually controlled SAM units to be spaced around the perimeter. If she tried anything other than bringing a negotiator to _Hell's Gate_, she'd find herself permanently lacking one Valkyrie.

After Jake finished checking the perimeter, he began to walk back toward the base. As he walked, his mind wandered back to the conversations he'd been having with Alejandra. The more he talked to her, the more he was convinced that he'd been speaking with Trudy. While Alejandra was a different person with different personality, she was very much like her sister in many ways. She often made the same facial expressions Trudy made when she talked, used the same tones, and spoke her mind like her fallen sister had. These traits made talking with her difficult because she was easy to like, which made keeping his guard up next to impossible.

Often times, he found himself relaxing and laughing with her as they as they talked. The two would usually spend about an hour speaking to one another before she would disconnect to finish her duties for the day, and he would attend to his. Jake's mind wandered to one particular conversation they had a few days earlier.

_Alejandra's image winked on the screen but this time with more static than usual. She was sweaty and wearing a tank top, which was out of character for her as she usually appeared very clean and crisp in her uniform with her hair in a tight ponytail. He'd asked her about her appearance, and she'd told them that the ship was passing in close proximity to the star Alpha Centauri C for a braking maneuver called a slingshot, which would use the star's gravity to decelerate the ship and place them on an intercept trajectory for Pandora. The proximity to the star and its heat were taxing the environmental controls aboard the _Dark Star_ that normally kept the interior a comfortable twenty degrees Celsius. However, they were only able to cool the interior to a sweltering 31.5._

_After she'd answered his question regarding her appearance, Alejandra had gotten down to business. For most of the hour, they'd discussed what time the shuttle should arrive, where it should approach from, and what to expect if she betrayed him._

_During this time he'd asked her if she had chosen the negotiator, which had caused the human captain to hesitate. She them simply smiled at him, and said that she'd eliminated it down to two or three candidates; all of which were avatar drivers. In that moment, when she hesitated, Jake knew that she intended to come down to the surface herself. He'd suspected that to be her plan originally, but her reaction had confirmed his assumptions._

_Alejandra struck him as a person who would go to any lengths to protect her crew, but he doubted her decision to come down herself was coming from her selfless sense of duty. The preoccupied look she wore every time they talked that she diligently tried to hide gave her true motivations away. She was coming down herself because of Trudy. He could see the hope that she was alive, and the desperation to find out in her eyes._

_Jake wanted to tell her about Trudy, to reveal that he knew her sister and her fate, but he was held back by two things. First, he didn't believe something like telling a person that their only living family member was dead from a billion kilometers away was right. Something of this magnitude was only revealed in person. _

_Secondly, as much as he hated the thought, Trudy could be his leverage on Alejandra. If he could break down her resolve and teach her to see like he had been taught, then perhaps he could save his people. From what he could tell, she was possibly halfway there to seeing the world from his point of view already. She had the same strong sense of right and wrong like her sister had. All he would need to do was nudge her in the right direction, and she'd realize the rest on her own._

_Feeling satisfied with the current state of their _relationship_, Jake turned the conversation back to a casual tone. It was then that he'd decided ask some questions about her._

_The question of why she was in command of the ship in stead of Richard Matthews had come up during this time. Alejandra had sighed before replying. As it turned out, Matthews was in command for the first three years of their trip from Earth, but had suffered an unexpected fatal heart attack nearly two and half years ago. He was and older man, and who had routinely disregarded his doctor's requests of a healthier diet with less caffeine. The _Dark Star_ had a competent medical staff and facilities, but sometimes that wasn't enough._

_After Matthews died, his XO, Commander Darren Fisher, had decided to thaw out Alejandra instead of assuming command himself. Since then, she had been in command and had inherited the mess that would have been Matthews had he lived._

_He even asked her about her reasons for coming to Pandora. For her part, she'd spoken honestly. Alejandra revealed that she had a sister that had been stationed at _Hell's Gate_, whom she was very close to. When their parents had died, they didn't have any other living family members to hold them in place. Her sister, who she confirmed was Trudy, had come ahead of her looking for a new beginning. Alejandra had originally decided to remain on Earth, but grew lonely without her sister._

_She had finished her tour aboard one of the US Navy's super carriers, and signed up for a position as Captain of the _ISV Alpha Star_, which would be arriving to Pandora two years from now. However, after the _Dark Star's_ departure window had been moved up to barely six months after the _Venture Star_ had left Earth; she had been reassigned to her current position as the _Dark Star's_ outgoing captain._

_He'd asked her for her version of why the _Dark Star_ had been launched so early. Her re ply revealed that the former military commander of_ Hell's Gate_, a man named Karl Falco, Quaritch's predecessor, had ordered that the RDA ship out some stronger, more powerful weapons to contain the Na'vi. Her ship was pressed into service ahead of schedule to bring those supplies in as quickly as possible._

_When Quaritch became the new head of security shortly before Falco's death, he'd simply picked up where Falco had left off. She'd known that both Falco and Quaritch would have been insane enough to use the _Dark Star's_ weapons, which was why she had already begun negotiations with RDAcom to add limitations for using these weapons of mass destruction before the RDA forces on Pandora had fallen to the Na'vi, or so she said._

_A short time later, they had disconnected. That was when he'd decided his next move in the game the two had been playing. It was a move that he knew she wouldn't like, but she'd understand his reasons for it._

As Jake reached the entrance to _Hell's Gate_, he decided that seeing Norm would be the most prudent course of action to take. Norm had been analyzing Pandora's closest moon for several days now with the _Hawking Space Telescope_ in search of anything that might shed light onto the mysterious Na'vi legend of the _Txon Tanhì_, or Night Star in English.

Nearing the Administration building, he noticed one of the few remaining marines standing guard outside the entrance. The man saluted Jake as he entered the building. _Funny_, Jake thought as the airlock cycled the Pandoran atmosphere from the room. Somehow in the last week or so, humans and Na'vi had done something that the RDA had failed to do in decades of occupying Pandora. Humanity and the Na'vi, the Omaticaya at least, had blended together. Out side the building, Na'vi aided human in repairing and maintaining Samsons, and human aided Na'vi in hunting and guarding.

However, these were the few humans who had been able to see Pandora for more than its mineral wealth. These were the humans like Grace Augustine, who knew the wealth lay in the natural world around them. Unobtainium had its used, Jake agreed, but the diverse plant and animal life meant more than a mineral to Jake. The plants and animals could be used in cures for many diseases and ailments for both human and Na'vi alike. The plants could be used to repair Earth's rapidly dying ecosystem if the RDA would get their heads out of their asses long enough to see the peril humanity was in, and then there was Ewya.

Ewya was something that Jake was still only just beginning to comprehend. Somehow Pandora had developed a biological communications network that enabled the life on Pandora to be able to download, upload, access, and backup information on a biological level. Also, it appeared that this global network was sentient on some level as Ewya could control the life of the world. This was something that the RDA forces had learned during Quaritch's assault on the Tree of Souls when Ewya or whatever _she_ was used Pandoran wildlife to fight off RDA forces both in the air and on the ground.

He didn't know what to make of Ewya. Was _she_ a long deceased Na'vi whose personality continued on in the global network, or was she a collective of all of life on the planet? Jake didn't know the answer, and perhaps never would. Did he think _her_ a God? No, but Ewya was a powerful entity.

Reaching the Stellar Cartography lab, Jake waited as the doors slid open in front of him. The room was similar in layout to the control room upstairs, but on a smaller scale. This room only had a few workstations running with a holo projector in the center of the room instead of the dozens of terminals that the control room held. Norm was the only one who remained in the lab as the evening began. He was at one of the terminals against the wall analyzing data as it came in from the _Hawking_. On the room's centrally located projector, a holographic image of the nearest moon slowly rotated with the current section that the _Hawking_ was analyzing highlighted.

Jake walked over to Norm, who had not noticed that he wasn't alone until Jake grabbed his right shoulder. "Hey Norm," Jake said startling the scientist from his work.

"Oh…Jake, sorry you scared me for a second there," Norm replied catching his breath.

"Sorry," Jake apologized. "Is this a bad time?"

Norm shook his head. "No buddy, this is fine. I was just going over the last set of pictures the _Hawking_ sent in," he added as he gestured to the lunar images on his terminal's screen.

"Have you found anything yet?"

Again, Norm shook his head. "No Jake, nothing to report but craters and more craters, but that's not the problem."

Perplexed, Jake cocked an eyebrow up at his friend. "What do you mean?"

Norm walked over to the projector and tapped a few commands that removed the visual enhancements the computers had made to the image. The moon now looked blurry and pixilated to the point of being almost unrecognizable. "That's the problem Jake."

"Damn that's bad," Jake commented. "How come the _Hawking's_ images are so poor? I thought this thing was supposed to be able to take super high-res images of the universe and what not."

"It is Jake. However, it was never designed to take pictures of objects so _close_. To the _Hawking_, looking at the moon is like trying to read a book or use a computer with binoculars. Both devices are great for looking at objects from long distances, but they can't see shit from up close. If the object of your interest was a thousand light years away, I'd have no problem analyzing it, but you'd have better luck looking at the moon with a backyard telescope than with the _Hawking_." Norm replaced the computer enhancements to correct the lunar image. "These enhancements are largely based off pictures taken by probes launched by ships like the _Capital Star_ and _Venture Star_ that are headed out of the system right now on deep space missions the RDA was conducting; all of which show nothing out of the ordinary"

Jake sighed. He'd hoped that Norm would be able to find something out with the billions of dollars worth of equipment they had. "Dammit. Is there anything else we could use?"

"There is," Norm began, "but you're not gonna like it." Norm brought up an image of the _Dark Star_ as she was beginning her orbital insertion maneuvers.

Growling, Jake shook his head. "You're right Norm, I don't like it."

"I thought you wouldn't," Norm added. "However, I've checked their materials manifest, and the _Dark Star_ is carrying four deep space probes with high-res cameras that would be perfect for scanning the moon. All they'd have to do is reprogram one or two of them and launch them at the moon where they could orbit and take as many photos of the surface you want."

Jake pinched his nose and shook his head at Norm's suggestion. "Yeah, and I'll just bet that Captain RDA will want some sort of concession for her allowing us to use her probes. Let's see what's first; the base, resumption of mining?"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask Jake."

"I know, I know. It's just that I want to find out what, or if this has anything to do with this _Txon Tanhì_ legend." Jake was beginning to look desperate before he threw his hands up in exasperation. "Fine, I'll ask her."

Norm placed his hand as high up on Jake's shoulder as he could manage, "It'll be alright Jake. If you want, I'll talk with the negotiator about the probes," Norm said in a comforting tone.

"I know Norm. I just wish that we didn't have to deal with this crap…at least not so soon." Jake's tone wasn't angry or depressed. It was just tired.

Norm reached over to the projector and turned it off and allowing the room's lights to brighten some. "Why don't we go get something to eat? I'm sure Neytiri must be worried about you being so late."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I don't think I've eaten since breakfast," Jake answered feeling suddenly very hungry.

The two exited the Cartography room and began down the hall toward the nearest exit. "Hey Jake, my avatar's healed. I was thinking of testing it out tomorrow. Would you and Neytiri like some company on your morning hunt, or would I be butting in," Norm said striking up a casual conversation. He knew that Jake and Neytiri hunted in the mornings often. However, they'd have to make it only a short hunt tomorrow since the _Dark Star's_ negotiator was arriving that afternoon.

Nodding, Jake smiled. "Yeah that sounds fun. Neytiri's wanted to teach you to use the bow for a while now, so yeah sounds good."

The two continued to walk in companionable silence.

* * *

"Three minutes till orbital insertion," Ensign Ulysses Jericho announced as he manipulated the _Dark Star's_ navigational controls.

Alejandra nodded from her position at the Operations console. "Thank you Mr. Jericho," she acknowledged. She was using the console to run through her checklist for tomorrow's departure.

In a short while, she would finish briefing her pilots on what to expect regarding their mission. Earlier in the week she had them brought out of cryo storage to inform them of the situation and _request_ that they transfer her down to Pandora's surface. Alejandra had decided to ask for volunteers instead of ordering them because she had already accepted the possibility that she could be taken prisoner upon her arrival at _Hell's Gate_.

She looked up from her screen and turned to face the large flat screen monitor located at the front of CIC, which currently displayed a vivid live feed of Pandora's northern hemisphere with Polyphemus shining its blue brilliance from behind. She wished that the ship had windows to look down upon the world, but that was out of the question since all current transparent construction materials weren't very good at repelling harmful radiation. Not to mention the fact that windows would be the weakest points on the ship's structure. Even the Valkyries' viewports remained covered by a protective layer of composite, which retracted after they were past all the hard radiation.

Jericho tapped a few more commands into his console, and they felt the ship shudder slightly as the braking thrusters fired once more and were silent. "Orbital insertion complete," he reported. "Confirming geosync orbit above _Hell's Gate_," he finished before releasing the con trols and switching them back to automatic. In reality, most of the ship's NAV controls were handled automatically. It was only in instances of plotting courses and destinations where ma nual controls came into effect. The orbital insertion had been mostly handled by the computers, leaving only the fine tuning to Mr. Jericho.

"Good work," Alejandra congratulated her navigations officer. She placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it for emphasis. Letting her officers know that she appreciated their hard work was essential for their continued morale. She turned to face the rest of the command staff. "Good work to all of you," she gestured to everyone present. "I know it's not much, but you have my appreciation for your diligence. In response to it, I'll be authorizing a bonus to everyone for all your hard work," she added. "And I want you all to spend it responsibly on things like booze, sex, and drugs," she continued her tone joking, which elicited laughs from the crew…genuine laughs.

Alejandra wished that she had something to give them now, but there was little available on the ship that she could offer. "I think a celebration is in order," she heard Fisher say from his station.

Nodding in agreement, Alejandra smiled. "I agree. Too bad we don't have something to toast with"

"I wouldn't worry about that Captain," Jericho interjected while he smiled innocently

"Worry about what," she inquired skeptically.

Jericho's smile became mischievous. "Well, I think that a crew member, whose name shall not be known," he replied as his grin seemed to spread, "has brewed up something that would be more than appropriate for a celebration."

For her part, Alejandra tried to look surprised. In reality, she'd known about his _science project_ from the beginning, and she'd let him continue provided that it didn't jeopardize the ship and crew, and that any partaking of his _product_ occurred during off duty hours only. "And what am I supposed to do when RDAcom contacts us to find the entire crew drunk from homemade vodka? How am I going to explain it to Nathan Andrews, Mr. Jericho?"

Jericho contemplated her questions for a moment before cocking one eyebrow. "I sup pose you would have to explain it _very…carefully_ Captain," he replied with an undercurrent of sarcasm.

"Indeed I would," Alejandra said nodding in agreement. "Very well, mess hall one hour. Just don't get too shit faced. We've got a busy day tomorrow." She turned to leave the CIC. "I've got some business to take care of, and then I'll join you."

Alejandra left the CIC and walked down the corridor toward dormitory module. In there, she found her two Valkyrie pilots playing cards in the small commons area. "Gentlemen," she said as she entered the room. They both stood and saluted her as she joined them at the table and returned their salute. "At ease," she ordered allowing them both to relax their stance.

"Need something Captain," one of the pilots asked.

She shook her head. "No, I'm just offering you two one more chance to opt out of flying me down tomorrow. As I said before, I don't know what will happen down there tomorrow. Everything may go fine, or it may go straight to FUBAR. We could find ourselves prisoners, or worse yet…dead."

The other pilot looked across to his partner, and then to Alejandra. "Captain, with all due respect. I'm not willing to let you go down there by yourself, and I'm sure Lieutenant Allen agrees with me."

Allen nodded. "We're right behind you one-hundred-ten percent."

Moved by their dedication, she fought to maintain her composure. "Thank you," was all she could say for a moment, then she added, "C'mon boys, I let's go get something to drink." The trio left the dorm module and headed for the mess hall where very shortly there would be many soon to be inebriated crew members.


	8. Arrival

A/N: Hey guys, here's chapter 8. I'm sorry for the delay in posting, but as I am out of school for the semester and currently unemployed; I have more or less become my Dad's errand boy. Anyhoo, the big meet finally happens and well I don't want to spoil it for you :)

I also want to thank everyone for their reviews. I never get tired of reading them, and it really encourages me to continue knowing that others are enjoying my story, and by my story I claim no ownership...again Jimmy Cameron! :)

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**Chapter Eight: Arrival**

Adjusting her straps, Alejandra secured herself in cockpit of Valkyrie One-Six. She was seated behind the two pilots who were currently running their preflight checklist. Behind and _below_ her, relatively speaking, the cargo bay was loaded with several months' worth of food and medical supplies. Her avatar was secured in there as well. She looked around the cockpit, noting the flashing lights and computer screens as the pilots droned on their diagnostics. In a few moments, they would disconnect from the _Dark Star_ and begin the process of reentry into Pandora's atmosphere.

_Reentry_, Alejandra thought. _Wouldn't it be better to refer to it as entry if it's your first time entering the planet's atmosphere_, she asked herself. Shrugging at her thoughts, she decided it didn't matter because most of the _space terminology_ that was used had been around since circa 1950, and it would break with tradition to change it now.

"Everything's green light Captain," Allen announced as he finished running through the startups for the Valkyrie shuttle. "We can leave anytime you want."

Alejandra nodded. "Patch me through to Commander Fisher first."

The other pilot, a man named Patrick McKnight, gave her thumbs up. "Roger that Captain, patching you through now." An instant later, Fisher's image flickered onto the ship's status monitor.

"Gosh Captain, aren't you gone yet," Fisher said playfully as he tried to lighten the mood that was circulating throughout the ship. Alejandra smiled slightly, which was the response he'd wanted to elicit from the commanding officer.

"I'm on my way out the door Darren. I just wanted to wish you luck as you will be in command during my absence, and I wanted to remind you that even though I'm not here, my orders still stand. Let me negotiate with the Na'vi, and only resort to our contingency plans as a last resort. And remember, absolutely no nukes." Alejandra knew that Fisher would follow her orders, but she wanted to emphasize her point one more time.

Fisher nodded and saluted her. "May the wind be on your back Captain, and a safe re turn," her first officer stated before the transmission was cut.

Tapping the commands to power up the Valkyrie's engines, McKnight released the shuttle from the docking umbilical. "Umbilical disconnect complete," he reported as he pulsed the Reaction Control System thrusters to gently push the shuttle away from the _Dark Star_. As the shuttle cleared the larger ship, he used the RCS thrusters to rotate the shuttle along its horizontal axis until the Valkyrie's bow faced the parallel to the _Dark Star's_ bow.

Using his left hand, he continued to make attitude adjustments while his right hand grasped the primary control stick. Pushing forward on the stick, the main engines engaged allowing Valkyrie One-Six to fly past the _Dark Star_ and begin its reentry maneuvers. As they passed the larger vessel, Alejandra watched on screen as they passed underneath the massive radiator fins, which continued to glow red from heat dissipation. The ship's radiators would continue to glow an angry red until the matter/antimatter reactor cooled down for approximately two weeks. By then, the reactor would only be running at a tenth of its current capacity since they didn't need as much energy to simply remain in geosync orbit around Pandora.

A few moments later the Valkyrie began to enter the atmosphere, and the ride transitioned from a smooth as glass glide to a jolting, _barf if you dare_ hell ride. The jolting increased as the air continued to thicken causing the heat-resistant ceramic tiles to glow an angry red then orange as the external temperature rocketed over 1,600 °C. Alejandra watched their velocity decrease from the friction until it was just above supersonic.

Being past the worst radiation and heat, the view port covers retracted allowing light to flood the cockpit. McKnight tapped a few commands that switched his control scheme from a spacecraft layout to an aircraft layout. His control sticks now controlled the shuttle's rudders, flaps, and ailerons. Like the shuttles of previous centuries, the Valkyrie had become an aircraft.

As McKnight piloted the shuttle toward _Hell's Gate_, Lieutenant Allen accessed the radio and announced their approach vector to _Hell's Gate_ control. "HG control, this is Valkyrie One Six. Requesting permission to approach from southeast," he announced over the radio. For a moment there was only silence over the channel.

"You think they left the desk," McKnight asked as he slowed the craft to subsonic speeds.

Allen shrugged. "I don't know, maybe…" he began but was cut off.

"This is HG control to Valkyrie One-Six. You have permission to approach from south east but do not deviate from your course. Escorts will arrive and guide you in six minutes, HG control out," a stern voice replied on their channel.

"Well he sounds happy to hear from us," McKnight added as he continued to fly the shuttle along its present course. "I bet he's only grumpy because he's not had any in a while."

"Shouldn't be too difficult Mc, there's plenty of blue tail to score down here if you know where to look," Allen continued.

McKnight grinned, "Yeah, but it's just too bad that he'd have to marry one of 'em for life. The blue guys don't like having multiple partners like we do. They wouldn't last too long at a college frat party."

"Alright gentlemen, cut the chatter," Alejandra announced from behind them. "Keep your eyes sharp, I'm sure they have AA set up through here."

"Copy that," they both acknowledged as they returned to their duties.

Alejandra eased back into the chair. Her head was aching from the night before. She hadn't drunk much, but Jericho's homemade vodka had definitely earned a proof rating of _Knock You on Your Ass_. Only three shots and she felt like she had thrown into the _Dark Star's_ reactors and shit out the Faster Than Light engines.

After the party, McKnight and Fisher had practically carried her back to her quarters and laid her down on her bunk. She never threw up, but Alejandra knew it couldn't have been more than seconds after her head hit the pillow that she was out cold. That night as she lay in bed, she dreamed a familiar dream.

It was almost the same dream that she'd had days earlier when she was running diagnostics on the Valkyrie. It began in the same city on Earth before, except this time she recognized her surroundings. Alejandra had found herself walking down streets of Los Angeles at night. She was going to one her and Trudy's favorite local restaurants known as _The Drunken Crab_. It was a small dive in the heart of LA that served decent food and cheap drinks.

Alejandra had agreed to meet Trudy here late one evening eight years ago. It had been the first time in nearly two years since they had last seen each other. The time before had been at their father's funeral two years prior. It wasn't that they hadn't kept in touch. Trudy was assigned to an American airbase in British-occupied Moscow. Her job was to ferry diplomats safely into and out of the Moscow Green Zone. Since Russia had degenerated into civil war twenty years earlier due to a failing economy. The United States, Britain, and China had moved troops and money into the ailing country as a means of stabilization.

Alejandra, by contrast, was a Captain in the US Navy. Her former command, the super carrier _USS Appalachia_, was tasked with patrolling the waters near Brazil for terrorists belonging to the South American group known as the _Soldiers of Eden_. That night was the first time they had both been on leave so they had agreed to meet.

In the dream, Alejandra arrived at the restaurant to find Trudy waiting for her at a small table inside. However, Trudy was once again in the form of Alejandra's avatar. Joining Trudy at the small table, she ordered a beer from the waiter.

"Been a long time," the Trudy-avatar had said to her.

"Far too long sister," Alejandra had said. This was the night that Trudy had told Alejandra that she was going to Pandora. They had talked about her decision over a meal and few drinks. Then, they had gone back to a hotel room that Trudy had rented for the night to sleep off their booze. The next day, they had gone shopping together.

Trudy-avatar took a drink from a beer she had already been nursing at the table. "You know it's a damn shame Alejandra," Trudy-avatar began.

Alejandra shook her head puzzled.

"Oh you know sis, humanity," Trudy-avatar continued. "All this technology, all this understanding of how the world works, and still they couldn't save themselves." The dream shifted. They were still in the restaurant, but now the city was in ruins. Above, acid rain fell from black clouds in a brown sky. "They had every opportunity to stop this, but like every other earlier generation, humanity thought they could pass _this_," Trudy-avatar gestured to the ruined world around them, "on to the next generation. They didn't realize that another generation would never come."

Standing from the table, Alejandra took the nightmarish scene in. "What happened here," she asked. "How…When did this happen," she continued looking on, her eyes wide with horror.

Trudy-avatar walked over to her sister and placed her large avatar hands on Alejandra's shoulders. "Shh," she said comforting the smaller woman, "what, when, and how this happened is not important." Her tone was the same soothing tone her mother had used when they were children. "Preventing this from happening is all that matters." The dream shifted once more. They were now in the control room of the Administration building at _Hell's Gate_. However, like the dead Earth city, the scene here was the same.

"Does what happens to Earth happen here as well?" Alejandra walked toward the shattered windows of the control room. She had never been in this room, but Trudy must have visited this place many times.

Trudy-avatar nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid that Pandora will share Earth's fate should the human world die." Alejandra only looked on in horror, as the only thing she could see past the broken perimeter fence was dust and dirt.

"Will this happen for sure, or is only a possible fate," she whispered. Trudy-avatar joined her at the window and placed her arm around her sister.

"This has already happened before. You must prevent it from happening again." The dream shifted again and they two were on the lunar surface of Pandora's closest moon. "You must usher in the New Dawn, it's the only way."

"New Dawn," Alejandra asked puzzled. "How can I usher anything in, if I don't know what I'm looking for." Trudy-avatar only laughed at Alejandra's puzzlement before she snapped her fingers and the scene shifted to the CIC onboard the _Dark Star_.

"How blind you are my sister, just like all tawtute. Everything you need to fulfill your duty is before your eyes. All you must do is _see_ the world around you," Trudy-avatar had said gesturing with her eyes. Alejandra had been about to ask her something else when she had awoke in her quarters this morning.

"Valkyrie One-Six, this Jonathan Myers. Escorts are now arriving on your six. Follow all instructions, or you will be shot down," a voice said over the radio as six Samsons intercepted the shuttle from behind.

Allen replied to Myers on the same channel, "Transmission acknowledged. The Samsons formed around the shuttle as gunners in the passenger compartments trained man-portable missile launchers at the larger shuttle. "Detecting multiple target locks," he announced. "I don't think they're here to ensure our safety, eh?"

Taking command of the situation, Alejandra removed her restraints and moved to stand over Allen. "This is Captain Alejandra Chacon. We will comply with your instructions, however I would advise HG control to note that if this shuttle is destroyed, there will be serious repercussions. I have not authorized the use of nuclear devices, but I cannot speak for my crew in the event of my demise."

The voice that responded on the radio wasn't Myers. "Captain Chacon, you _will not_ deviate from your course. If you do not comply, I will take personal responsibility for any _repercussions_ against my people," Jake Sully's voice boomed over the radio. "And Captain, it will be nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise Sully, likewise," Alejandra responded.

* * *

Jake Sully handed the portable COMM unit back to Max as his picked up on the sounds of Samson rotors and Valkyrie thrusters. A few seconds later, the convoy of aircraft came into site. He knew the SAM sites he'd ordered set up, as well as the Samson escorts had the Valkyrie sighted in as the perimeter fence's automated AA guns tracked the larger craft. The Valkyrie slowed its velocity as her thrusters angled down for landing maneuvers. Like nearly all the aerial vehicles the RDA employed on Pandora, the shuttle was capable of VTOL, or Vertical Take-Off and Landing.

Easing down on its wheels, the Valkyrie touched down. A few seconds later the engines cut; everyone could hear the characteristic whine-down of jet engines. In space, the Valkyrie's engines used a self-oxidizing compound for fuel that didn't require free oxygen for combustion; however, once in the atmosphere of an oxygen-rich planet the shuttle switched to more conventional jet fuels for sustained flight.

As the Valkyrie's engines powered down, the Samsons, AA guns, and SAM positions continued to monitor the craft. A band of Na'vi warriors and Na'vi-loyal marines approached the craft with bows and rifles drawn while maintaining a safe distance in case the shuttle was destroyed.

Looking to the people present beside him, Jake saw Norm in his avatar body to his left, Neytiri to his right, and Max to Norm's left. Norm was hefting a Na'vi sized assault rifle while Neytiri was armed with her bow. Max merely held a small tablet that was equipped with a device that could scan for radiological materials. Motioning for them to remain behind the perimeter, Jake stepped forward and began walking toward the shuttle, which sat their silently with the cargo bay ramp still up and sealed against the fuselage.

As he neared the Valkyrie, the ramp began to slowly descend revealing three human figures wearing exopacks, one female and two males. The woman cautioned her companions with her hands. Jake stopped a few meters from the ramp and looked toward the now open bay. Be hind the figures, were several large crates that supposedly contained the promised supplies, and behind the crates a lone avatar floated in its chamber.

In response to Jake's approaching of the shuttle, the woman stepped forward and proceeded down the ramp. She stopped within reach of Jake, which Jake took that she wasn't going to allow him to intimidate her. After a tense moment of silence, she broke the silence. "Jake Sully, Captain Alejandra Chacon," she said sticking her right hand out in introduction.

Hesitantly, Jake took her smaller hand and grasped it with his larger one. Jake thought she'd looked like Trudy before, but seeing her in person reinforced his assessment of her. To his Na'vi eyes, her every curve was identical to Trudy's, her stance was the same, and through his heightened Na'vi sense of smell he smell her nearly identical scent. "Alejandra, I was hoping you would be the negotiator," he replied. He'd known she would be the negotiator from the behavior she'd displayed every time he broached the subject.

"Happy to please," she responded in return before looking to the guns trained on her position. "Is this really necessary," Alejandra asked gesturing around them. "I have teeth, but I'm not stupid enough to bite when I'm outnumbered fifty to one."

Jake looked back to his people and nodded. The warriors and marines lowered their guard slightly. He then motioned to the Samsons above, they responded by dispersing and landing nearby. However, the AA guns and SAM sites maintained their positions. "Walk with me Alejandra," Jake requested as he turn his back to the human woman.

He noticed her hesitate and look back to her men. "What about them," she asked gesturing to the two pilots still standing in the Valkyrie's bay.

Jake nodded and pointed to Norm and Neytiri. The two came up to join Jake. "Neytiri, take these men to Max and aid them in unloading their supplies. Max will know what to do with the equipment," Jake instructed Neytiri. She grasped his arm and nodded. The men heard Jake, and cooperated with Neytiri as she walked up the ramp.

Looking over to Norm, Jake moved to whisper in his ear. "Norm, get one of our Samson pilots to take care of the Valkyrie," he whispered quietly enough to prevent Alejandra from hearing him. Norm nodded and headed off to where the Samson pilots stood near their craft. She wouldn't like what he'd planned, but there was no way she would be able to say no.

Jake looked back to the human captain. "What about now," he asked in a placating tone. Alejandra nodded and began to follow him across the concrete surface. He led her toward one of the Samson hangers, which stood empty at the moment.

Entering the hanger, he walked to the back of the building where small, sealed break room resided. Jake opened the room's airlock and stepped in, watching as Alejandra cautiously followed suit. He didn't blame her, if he were in her position he'd feel awkward as well. He sealed the door behind her and allowed the airlock to cycle. Alejandra removed her exopack as the status light flashed green and followed him into the break room where Jake leaned against the back wall.

He watched her pull a seat from the nearest table and sit down. "So Jake, why are we alone in a break room alone in the middle of a hanger? I know I'm hot, but last time I checked you're already taken. If I'd known you'd wear your nicest loincloth, I would have worn my dress uniform."

Ignoring her jibe as to why he'd chosen to bring them here, he simply nodded. "I wanted to bring you here to talk in private."

Leaning back in her chair, Alejandra crossed her arms. "Okay, so let's talk. That is why I'm here after all," she continued, her tone sarcastic.

Knowing that she'd be much more than annoyed in a moment, he dared to continue. "I brought you here for two reasons. One is that I'm altering our agreement. I'm not going to allow your pilots to return to the _Dark Star_."

Without missing a beat, Alejandra interrupted. "So, Jake, are we your prisoners? Are you going to try to ransom us to my crew, or do you intend to take the Valkyrie and board and take over my ship?" She appeared to be neither angry nor surprised. However, her demeanor was much more defensive as she was no longer leaning back in the chair, and her palms were flat on the table as if ready to push herself up on a moment's notice.

"No, nothing like that," Jake began. "You and your pilots are guests here…unless your behavior proves otherwise. However, I will require you to have an escort everywhere you go with the exception of the dormitory wing of the Administration building, and you will not be allowed to leave this base unless under the direct supervision of me, my mate, or Dr. Spellman. I am merely appropriating your shuttle as a means of asset denial, Jake continued.

"With only two remaining shuttles, your crew will be much more hard pressed to preserve their remaining assets rather than use them against us." Jake's face was as solid as stone. He wanted her to understand that he was telling her the truth. In response, Alejandra smirked slightly and nodded her head.

"How you never made past Corporal, I'll never know," was her reply. "Fair enough, I know when I'm beat. Asset denial, eh," Alejandra continued. "You know, I'd have done the same thing in your position Jake."

He was surprised that she was taking this as well as she was. Her mood seemed to lighten some. "You're not angry," Jake said questioningly.

She shook her head. "Hell Jake, I won't lie. I'm pissed off," she hesitated for effect then continued, "but I'm not surprised. I will need to speak with my XO since he's expecting Valkyrie One-Six to return shortly."

"I can arrange that Alejandra."

"Good." She stood and walked over to one of the room's rectangular windows. As she neared the windows, she noticed a small bobble head figure of a famous actor from a few decades back and picked it up. "You said there were two reasons for bringing me here," she stated.

"Yes I did," he responded hesitantly.

"So what's reason two?"

"I know why you're here, Alejandra." Jake moved to stand beside her. Outside the room, he could see past the open hanger doors and the activity going on beyond them. She turned to face him, still holding the bobble head, her face calm.

"Yeah, I'm the best person for the job, and I don't want to endanger my crew. I'd rather risk myself as one of my men. If I were a better pilot, I'd have come completely on my own." Alejandra turned to face the wall to her left, as if she was hiding her face.

_She suspects where I'm going with this_, Jake thought to himself. He didn't want to do this to her, but it was the only way he knew to crack her resolve. "No Alejandra, you're not here be cause of your selfless sense of duty, at least that's not your main reason for coming here your self. I know about Trudy," he revealed to her.

She spun around to face him, her face showing surprise, anger, and desperation to know the fate of her sister. "_What do you know about her_," Alejandra inquired sternly. Jake could see that all of her previous civil mood had disappeared. Her face was tense, as if carved from granite, but her eyes were wild with desperation.

Though she had never said anything before, he knew that Alejandra had been in communication with the _Venture Star's_ captain almost daily for any updates regarding Trudy. He also knew that every time she spoke with the other captain, Renaldo gave her the same response. She had lost all hope that her sister was safely aboard the _Venture Star_, and in her desperation she had taken matters in her own hands and came to Pandora herself. Here, she hoped to find some answers. Here, she hoped to find Trudy.

Looking into her eyes, Jake could tell she was going to be crushed by what he _had_ to say. However, he didn't know how she would react. Would she throw herself at him in anger, would she collapse in grief and tears, or would she go numb and shutdown altogether, these were the questions that raced through his mind. He would prefer if she chose the former of the three most likely possibilities as opposed to the later. If her anger prevailed, he could restrain her. He was unsure how to comfort an _enemy_ who had succumbed to her grief and either wept uncontrollable, or simply sealed herself within her mind and blocked the pain by weaving a tapestry of denial.

Alejandra's eyes continued to burn into him as she waited for him to continue. _She already expects the worst_, his inner voice said. Jake took a step toward her and placed his hands on her smaller shoulders.

"I know you came here hoping to find your sister, but I'm afraid you're too late. She _was_ one of my closest friends, but we lost her during the battle. I'm so sorry, but there was no way to save her."

* * *

…_but there was no way to save her_, echoed through Alejandra's mind and stabbed into her consciousness like knives. Her rapidly beating heart slowed to a near stop as her breathing slowed to a very deliberate space. The very world around her seemed to slow to a stop as the colors were drained from it at Jake's revelation.

_She's dead_, Alejandra thought in shattered and fragmented mind. She felt her hands ball into fists, the nails digging into her palms until they broke the skin. Crimson blood seeped from the self-inflicted wounds as she dropped to her knees. _She's dead_, stabbed through her mind again.

She could hear Jake saying something, but she couldn't hear him. All she could hear were those two small but significant words echo through her mind. Alejandra could also see her memories of her fallen sister fly past her. Memories of their childhood at their family home in Texas where they used to play together. They never played games like Tea Party, or Dress Up like other girls used to. Trudy and Alejandra were always pretended they were soldiers fighting off terrorists, or knights who went to slay the evil monsters that were terrifying the kingdom. The two were definitely Tomboys.

As they grew, Alejandra and Trudy played sports on their high school's basketball team and participated in martial arts together. They were each other's best friend. Perhaps it was be cause they were twins, but it didn't matter to them. When they reached adulthood, they both en listed into the military after high school. Trudy joined the Marines and Alejandra had joined the Navy.

Alejandra's mind shifted to the last time she had seen her sister, when Trudy had said goodbye before leaving for Pandora. Alejandra had promised that she would follow her soon, and then they could be together on a new world. Then her mind flashed to more recent events.

It was only a few months ago that Trudy had sent her a series of messages…the last mes sages she'd ever receive from her sister. The first message Trudy sent had said that she had made a couple of new friends. One of them was a Marine Corporal named Sully and a science geek named Spellman, and how she found the scientist attractive.

The next several messages she had received told of how her friend Sully and Spellman were working in Dr. Augustine's Avatar Program. She had told how she flown the group to a remote location in the Hallelujah Mountains to conduct their work. Sully and Augustine spent most of the time in their avatars while Trudy had spent time with Spellman who was tasked with monitoring the other two scientists while they _were in the field_. She had told Alejandra in these messages that she and the scientist were starting to get fairly close, and she could see something developing in the future.

Alejandra had been happy for her sister. However, the last message she'd received from Trudy told a different story. Trudy had said that Quaritch had all but declared war on the Na'vi, and that things were getting tense. Trudy had said it might be a while before she was able to send another message. The last words Trudy said to her were, _I love you sis, and I'll talk to you when I can_.

However, there would never be another message. Trudy would never be able to pursue her relationship with the _cute and nerdy_ scientist she talked about, nor would she be able to introduce her to him. Trudy would never be married, nor would she have children. All that was left of her was a few undeleted messages on the _Dark Star's_ mainframe, and maybe a few personal effects scattered about _Hell's Gate_.

Alejandra felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. It felt very large, but she didn't know who it was nor did she care. Suddenly she felt very claustrophobic. All she wanted to do was step out for a breath of air and reassemble the shattered pieces of her existence. She found that she was on her feet an instant later, and that same person was saying something to her, but she didn't hear him.

Her hands found the door and she noticed they were bloody. For a moment, she wondered why they were and why she hadn't noticed before. However, her hands didn't bother her at the moment as she pushed through the door and another a few seconds later. The voice called out to her again with more urgency. Alejandra heard an alarm behind her as she did, but she didn't care. Walking, or was she running? Alejandra didn't know as she left the break room. It felt good to be outside that small cramped room as she continued. However, as she continued it became hard to breathe and she felt herself become lightheaded.

A few seconds later, she found herself flat on the concrete gasping for breath as that same figure was running for her as he screamed her name over and over. _Oh_, she thought. She had for gotten her exopack, but she was too far gone to care. Her vision was beginning to tunnel and darken as he caught up to her, and the last thing she heard before everything went black was him saying her name as he placed something on her face.


	9. Delta Waves

A/N: Okay guys and girls, here's chapter 9. I'm sorry for the lengthy period of time since my last update, but I'll admit that this was a difficult chapter to write. I've spent some time trying to make the neuorlogical stuff sound plausible, but I am no neuroscientist. For those of you who do have PhDs in neuroscience, don't kill me ;) Anyway, I really hope that you enjoy this chapter, and I'll try to update sooner. -Solaris1989

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Delta Waves**

"Come on Jake, calm down man," Norm said attempting to placate his friend as he paced around the small office. Looking over to the other man in the room, Norm sighed. "Max, tell Jake that everything's going to be fine."

Max removed his glasses and pinched his nose before looking at the pacing Na'vi leader. "Jake," Max began, "Alejandra will be fine…physically at least. You were able to replace her exopack before she inhaled too much of Pandora's atmosphere."

"_Look_," Jake began irritated. "I _know_ she's alright, but your weren't there. You didn't see the desperation, the anger, and the absolute anguish in her eyes." The two noticed the Na'vi warrior's eyes dim slightly as he Alejandra's outburst. He regretted what he'd done to her. So far, she had done nothing but cooperate with him. Alejandra had been nothing but fair in her dealings with him, and in return, he did the one thing guaranteed to drive her over the edge. Because of him, she had spent the past six hours lying unconscious in a hospital bed just outside the Med Lab office.

He should have known better than to pull that stunt. For days, he told himself that it was help his people by breaking her resolve, but he'd underestimated the human captain. Jake wished Trudy were here right now to kick his ass for what he'd done to the only remaining part of his friend.

Looking at the sleeping human through the window, Jake noticed how much of himself he saw in her. He'd been a wreck after his brother Tommy had been murdered. When he got the call from the coroner in old life as human about his brother's death, Jake had wept uncontrollably for hours. After he'd managed to gather himself together, he'd wheeled himself to the nearest liquor store and bought enough alcohol to kill an elephant. The next morning, Jake had woken in a puddle of his own vomit to the ringing of his personal COMM device. That was been the day his life had changed. That was the day he'd received the call from the RDA to take his brother's place as avatar driver. His life was saved that day.

If it hadn't been for Pandora, for Neytiri, Jake would have probably joined his brother in death. Like Alejandra, he'd always been close to his sibling, but losing him was only the tip of his iceberg of turmoil. The beginning had been when he'd lost his legs in South America. Al ready suffering from depression, Jake had all but given up on life when his brother died.

When those two men from the RDA offered him the job of avatar driver, he accepted not because he wanted to see Tommy's dream through himself, but because of the risk involved. Jake had sunk so low that the notion of putting his life in jeopardy was the only thing he could do to make himself feel…anything.

He knew from Tommy that being an avatar was a risky assignment. There could always be a malfunction with the link equipment that resulted in permanent brain damage or death. His avatar could always be killed, which could result in his human body's death. From what Tommy said, that if your avatar died while you were using it, there was a seventy percent chance that the trauma of the experience could send your human body into cardiac arrest.

When he'd been marooned on Pandora after his first deployment with Grace and Norm, he'd been attacked by a pack of viperwolves. At that moment, he'd known that his avatar was going to die, and he was fine with that. His miserable excuse for a life would have been over, but then something changed.

His avatar's life, and by extension his life had been spared. Neytiri, the woman who would become his mate and life partner, arrived just as the viperwolves were going to strike and saved him from a gruesome death. Fate, as it seemed had intervened.

Of course, Neytiri had done more than save his life that night. She had given him a pur pose and a direction. Her companionship had also helped him heal from his brother's death as he found someone else to care for and trust. As their friendship grew, she granted him another gift. She taught him to see.

As a human, Jake had been blinded by his humanity. Humans, though wise and smart had become so absorbed in their progress as a species instead of stopping to see the world around them. Their lack of sight had been responsible for many of the various conflicts throughout their history and the damage their world had suffered because of their progress.

His eyes open, Jake had seen the error of his ways. He'd learned that fighting nature was humanity's greatest sin. A sin he'd repented from by learning to live _with_ nature, and by doing so, he'd been rewarded with the thing he needed the most: a family.

Like him, Alejandra had lost everything, and like him, she was blind. Being blinded, she would be an enemy to the People, but if she were taught to see, Alejandra would be an ally…no more than an ally. If Alejandra were to open her eyes, he would not see an enemy lying there on a gurney, but a sister to him and the People.

As Neytiri healed him, he would heal her. However, where Neytiri had worked alone to mend the broken remnants of his old life, Alejandra would have an army of teachers. In time, he would call her sister, and she would call him brother. _Mo'at is right_, Jake thought as he stood there. He did have a destiny. He would save the Na'vi by opening Alejandra's eyes.

"Pandora to Jake, come in Jake, this is Norm Spellman to Jake Sully. Do you read me," Jake heard Norm call out, interrupting him from his thoughts. Spinning around to face the two scientists, he rolled his eyes at Norm's sarcastic remarks.

"Sorry guys, I guess you lost me for a moment," Jake apologized. "Did I miss some thing?"

"More like ten minutes," Norm replied, gesturing to Max's tablet, which was currently displaying a series of multicolored wavy lines as the crawled across a window on the screen. The window was labeled: _Chacon, A. RDA ID: 762893 EEG Live Feed_. Below the window's title bar, the words _Anomaly Detected_ flashed on the screen alongside the wavy lines labeled with the Greek symbols for Beta and Delta. Max handed the tablet to Jake who studied the wavy lines for a moment before looking back at the scientists.

"What am I looking at," he asked the neuroscientist, and handed him his terminal back.

Max took the tablet and expanded the window to fill the entire screen. "This is an EEG, an electroencephalogram of Alejandra's brain. You know a measurement of the electrical im pulses the brain emits. Specifically, this scan is measuring Alejandra's Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma waves.

"Note these two waves here," Max continued as he pointed to the two flashing waves, "are her Delta and Beta waves.

"This one," he said, gesturing to the second flashing wave, "is her Beta wave. It spikes while you are alert, thinking, or concentrating. Think of it as the activity your brain is actively processing…that you are directing."

Jake nodded in understanding and Max continued, his finger now pointing to the other wave now. "This is her brain's Delta wave; it measures brain activity while the subject is either unconscious or sleeping."

"Okay, I get it, Beta waves conscious, Delta waves unconscious," Jake, acknowledged Max's science lesson. "So, what's the 'Anomaly Detected' got to do with these waves? I mean forgive me; I was never much of a science student." Jake shrugged at his last statement. When it came to the brain, Jake barely comprehended the fact that it somehow processed and stored the information that made up a person's mind.

Max nodded. "The problem is that they're both elevated. There's no reason that she should be showing signs of conscious brain activity while she is unconscious."

"Lucid dreaming," Norm, asked.

Max shook his head. "I thought so at first, but the signs are all wrong. I wasn't sure what to make of it until I saw this," Max said tapping a few commands into his tablet. "Really this is just speculation," he continued as he brought up another window that displayed similar lines. "Here, recognize this?"

Jake and Norm looked at the new window, which was labeled PC diagnostics and showing similar wave lines to Alejandra's EEG. "What does her brain have in common with your tablet Max," Jake asked as he noted the similarities between the two sets of lines in the side-by-side windows.

"Bear in mind that this is just speculation guys," Max began. "But I think there's a cor relation. If you'll note this tablet is connected the base's wireless networks, which it sends and receives information on, and how the CPU processes the information it receives. Look at Alejandra's Beta and Delta waves." Max pointed back to the EEG, he then superimposed Alejandra's brain waves with the CPU and network activity waves.

"Bearing that the scales are different, the waves are nearly identical. Whatever is going on in her mind, I doubt it is simple dreaming."

Jake was lost now. "I don't understand Max, are you saying that she's transferring information like a computer terminal?"

"Streaming information would be more accurate Jake."

Norm stood from the desk and walked over to the window to peer out at Alejandra before turning back toward Jake and Max. "Are you suggesting that she is telepathic?"

Max shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'd have to see if her brain displays similar readings while awake," Max added, and then scratched his beard as if in thought. "You know, this kinda re minds me of all those subconscious and subliminal conspiracy theories from back in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first."

Cocking an eyebrow, Jake crossed his arms. "You mean those old stories about how Earth's major governments tried to brainwash people into being compliant little slaves by beaming radio waves into people's minds."

"Sort of," Max replied, "but I don't believe she's being controlled. I'm thinking along the lines of someone or something trying to communicate with her by tapping into her subconscious mind."

Going on the defensive, Jake glared at Norm and Max. "Do you think it's the _Dark Star_," he asked.

Norm shook his head. "Jake, we're monitoring all signals the _Dark Star's_ emitting. If they were broadcasting anything out of the ordinary, we'd know about it. I'm with Max; I think we're dealing with an unknown."

Jake's lips pursed as he looked at the scientists, then to Max's tablet lying on the desk, and finally to Alejandra's still form. Considering all the information that Max had given him, Jake looked back to the olive-skinned scientist. "I think I should talk to Mo'at regarding this. We may need a…less scientific point of view regarding her," Jake explained, nodding toward Alejandra. "Max, would you mind accompanying me, I may need your help explaining this to her."

Max nodded, "Sure Jake. Just let me grab a few things, and transfer to another tablet since this one's battery is about dry."

"Sure, just meet me at the rear exit in say fifteen minutes," the Na'vi warrior replied to Max as he gathered his things and headed for Link Chamber. After Max had left, Jake looked over to Norm. "Would you mind looking after our guest while I'm gone?" At the mention of remaining with Alejandra, Jake noticed Norm perk up slightly.

"Sure, I'd love to…. um I mean, if that's what you want me to do," Norm answered while attempting to look unfazed by Jake's request.

Smiling at his closest friend, besides Neytiri at least, Jake patted him on the back. "Thanks Norm," he said. Stepping out of the office, he headed for the Med Lab's exit. As he reached the door, he spared a glance back at the human scientist. "Oh, and Norm," he called out to the human.

Norm looked up from the desk's terminal. "Yes Jake," was his reply.

"Remember, she's not Trudy."

"I know."

"Right, but keep that in mind."

"I will."

However, Jake somehow doubted that Norm would bear that in mind.

* * *

_Home_, her mind said as she looked at the homey little farmhouse before her. She was back at her childhood home in Texas. At least it had been a farmhouse in the past, but now it was simply just on the outskirts of one of the many richer and more affluent gated communities the social elite flocked. Her great-grandfather had sold the farmland when her parents were children, but had kept the three-acre lot that the house set on.

Taking a step forward, Alejandra felt so much relief to be home. All of those terrible developments she'd been contending with recently aboard the _Dark Star_ and Pandora had been nothing more than a terrible nightmare. As she neared the house, she could smell her mother's baking. It was one of her famous blueberry pies. Oh how she would enjoy a piece of pie later.

However, she had another interest than devouring a piece of delicious blueberry pie now. First, she needed to see Base Camp. Base Camp was the name she and Trudy had given to the tree house their father had built for them as children. It had served as their headquarters when they played Army, their castle when they played Slay the Dragon, and had served as their super fast time machine and spaceship when they were in a mood for exploring the final frontier. Base Camp had been their home away from home.

Walking around the house, she spotted Base Camp in the large metal tree behind the house. As her family wasn't wealthy enough to afford planting a real tree, their father had built one out of metal and composite materials just as Base Camp had been constructed out of synthetic composites. However, it didn't matter to her or Trudy; it was their tree house. There weren't many children who lived around her that had one.

A few steps later, and she was nearing Base Camp. As she suspected, Trudy was sitting on tree house's front balcony sipping their childhood ambrosia: root beer. Spying her, she saw Trudy lift a blue arm and wave to her before waving her bottle indicating there was more to drink with her. _Funny, I never noticed how much taller and bluer she is than me_, Alejandra thought to herself as she climbed the short ladder up into the tree house.

"Damn sis, I never thought you'd get here. I was about to give up hope and drink your share of the _booze_," Trudy-avatar said, opening a bottle and handing it to Alejandra who immediately took a long swig from the bottle.

Alejandra sighed contentedly as she sat the bottle down next to her and looked at her sister. "That hit the spot. There's just nothing better than a cold root beer on a hot Texas day," she stated, smiling and leaning back against Base Camp's front wall. "So Trudy, what brings you home?"

"You," Trudy-avatar replied calmly before asking, "Do you want another beer?"

Alejandra shook her head, "No, I need to finish this one first. So you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah."

Taking another sip from her root beer, Alejandra took out a pair of aviator sunglasses and put them on. When Trudy had gotten her pilot's license, Alejandra had gone out and bought them both two very expensive pairs of aviator sunglasses. In response, Trudy-avatar took out a Na'vi sized pair and put them on. "Care to share?"

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about a _new_ tree house. I found this really nice _real_ tree that I think _you_ should look into." Trudy-avatar's voice was calm though she emphasized her words with hand gestures.

Alejandra laughed. "Nice one Trudy, I bet seeing Base Camp gave you that one. So, what's the real reason you brought me here."

"I told you, the tree."

"Seriously Trudy," Alejandra retorted, annoyed.

Trudy-avatar's features hardened slightly, but then softened. "I am more serious than I have ever been." She then wrapped her left arm around her sister's shoulder and pulled her close. "Please believe me, Sis."

Unable to resist, Alejandra softened. "Alright, so you want me to see this tree," she said looking into Trudy-avatar's golden eyes. Those kind eyes Trudy used had always been able to turn her into mush; a fact that Trudy always shamelessly exploited.

Smiling, Trudy-avatar cracked two more bottles of root beer and handed Alejandra one of them. Drinking from the bottle, Trudy-avatar smiled again before continuing. "Good, I know you'll love it Sis. Oh man, I can't wait for you to see it," she seemed almost giddy.

"Okay," Alejandra began, "I'm sure I'll love it, but where is it. I don't exactly see a lot of trees around here you know."

Laughing, Trudy-avatar nearly choked on her root beer. "Oh Trudy, it's not around here," she stated matter-of-factly. "It's deep in the mountains of Iknimaya."

"The mountains of what," Alejandra asked incredulously. "I've never heard of them."

"You know them as the Hallelujah Mountains, but there's just one problem."

Sighing, Alejandra knew that Trudy would say that. "Alright, hit me," she sighed out.

"Well, it's the locals. They don't easily trust Sky People, which means you'll have to earn their trust before they'll let you see the tree," stated Trudy-avatar, shrugging.

Biting her lower lip, Alejandra stood and leaned over the balcony. "I take that you don't have that problem."

"No, they trust me completely," Alejandra heard her sister say in response as she placed her large blue hands on her smaller human shoulders.

"How about putting in good word for me," she asked Trudy as her blue twin began rubbing her shoulders, which liquefied her from the mush she had become. She could hear Trudy chuckle behind her.

"Damn Sis, your muscles are way too tense. You really need to relax more," the blue woman commented as she rubbed the kinks out of her sister. "It doesn't really work that way. You have to make the effort, but I'll do everything I can help your chances with the People." Trudy-avatar paused, her massage causing Alejandra to turn and face her.

"What will I have to do," she asked, studying her sister's face. Her mind was struggling to remember when Trudy had grown and gone sapphire, but she was failing.

Trudy-avatar smiled slightly and cupped Alejandra's face in her hands. "Do what you always do: Follow your heart, and you'll sail along the right path." Alejandra was surprised by her sister's tenderness. Though she knew Trudy had a soft spot, her sister rarely ever let it out. She felt her sister's hands leave her face to pull her into a soft embrace.

"Why so nice all the sudden," Alejandra asked pulling slightly away from her sister.

Trudy-avatar only rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with showing my sister and best friend that I care about her?"

"Well nothing…. I guess I'm just not used to this side of you."

"It's okay. I just wanted you to know that I do, and that I'll always be there for you in one form or another." Trudy-avatar's face saddened. "You've got a hard road ahead of you Alejandra, but you won't travel alone."

"This is a dream isn't it," Alejandra asked, finally realizing the surreal atmosphere for what it was. "I'm still on Pandora, aren't I?"

Trudy-avatar nodded.

"Please tell me you're not dead," Alejandra stated, her voice becoming worried. "Please tell me that Jake Sully's lying to me," she begged her sister.

Shaking her head, Trudy-avatar pulled Alejandra closer again. "No, _our_ brother isn't deceiving you, but I haven't left you. I'm still with you." Tears were beginning to fall from the human's eyes.

"Brother," she choked out between sobs.

"Yes, Brother Jake will help you. I need you to trust him. He'll point you in the right direction," Trudy-avatar said as the world around them began to brighten. Alejandra held on tighter to her sister. "There's one more thing Alejandra."

"Yes," she stuttered out.

"When the time comes, remember Lunar Grid five-four-nine," whispered Trudy-avatar in her ear. "Five-four-nine," she repeated.

"What," Alejandra asked, her face warped in confusion.

"I love you," was Trudy-avatar's only reply however.

Alejandra tried to reply, but she found that she couldn't talk as the world became blindingly bright. Trudy's golden eyes were last thing she saw as the world faded into white light around her.

* * *

Opening the airlock door, Jake and Max exited the Administration Building. In the distance, they could make out the avatar bunkhouse, which stood near _Hell's Gate's_ western perimeter. Unlike the other sectors of the base, there was little artificial light actively lighting the area. Instead, the warm glow of campfires lit the area that some of the Omaticaya had recently appropriated. As they neared, Jake could smell the scents of roasting meats and vegetables wafting out from the fires. He could hear the murmuring of voices as many Na'vi ate their evening meal.

He looked down at Max, who was struggling to keep up with the taller and more athletic Na'vi warrior. The scientist was huffing behind his exopack causing it to fog up. _Damn, Max you really need to get in shape_, Jake thought as he noticed how chubby the scientist really was. Jake knew firsthand that Pandora was not a place to be caught unprepared, or out of shape for that matter. He would have to get Max outside, or in the base's gym more often.

Neytiri and Mo'at sat around the largest of the campfires talking over a shared bowl of fruit from the avatar garden. Looking up, Neytiri spied her mate as he walked toward them and smiled. Though Jake would have preferred her to tackle him as she had a few days ago, he realized that making a carnal and romantic scene in front of Max wasn't a good idea. The poor scientist would probably have a heart attack if they got carried away; a thought that made Jake grin.

She stood and walked the few remaining steps it would take her to reach Jake and em braced him. "I see you my Jhake," she whispered in his right ear.

"I see you my Neytiri," was his reply as he gently kissed the curve where her neck and right collarbone met. Jake pulled away from her and gestured toward Max. "You remember Max," he asked.

She nodded and bent toward the human. "MhaxxPatell, it has been many days. What brings you here with my Jhake?"

"Um, Jake said that he needed to speak with Mo'at about our guest… the human captain," Max stuttered. Taking a deep breath, he continued nervously. "Jake thinks that I may be able to better understand and explain Captain Chacon's current condition."

Jake knew that Max felt intimidated being around the Na'vi. It came from being conditioned to see them as a threat to human safety and security. Just over a week ago, this many Na'vi here would be cause for alarm, but now was merely business as usual in _Hell's Gate's_ changed reality. Looking toward Mo'at, Jake sighed.

"Our medicine machines have discovered something strange with Alejandra's mind," Jake clarified. Though Neytiri's understanding of human equipment was growing, much of it remained a mystery to her. "We don't understand what the machines are telling us, which is why I wanted to speak to Mother."

As if on cue, Mo'at stood and joined the trio. She placed her hand on both Jake and Neytiri, a motherly gesture seemingly almost universal no matter where you were in great cos mos. "What concerns you JhakeSulley," the Omaticaya spiritual leader asked their new olo'eyktan.

"Mother, I need to speak to you about the tawtute leader," Jake began and led the group toward a bench outside the bunkhouse. Squatting in front of the bench as Mo'at sat, he continued. "Earlier today, she suffered a nervous breakdown and ran outside without her mask and nearly died. We took her unconscious body to our healing center for treatment of her injuries; however we discovered something… unexpected." Jake gestured to Max who was already wak ing his tablet from sleep mode.

Standing, the human scientist walked over to Mo'at. Jake placed his right hand on the smaller man's left shoulder as a means of comforting the nervous scientist. "This is Max Patel. He is what our people call a neuroscientist, a person who studies the human mind.

"When we were healing the tawtute leader, he discovered something strange with her mind. However, we have been unable to ascertain what is ailing her. We came here because I believe that you may be able to better explain her condition." He nodded to Max to begin.

Clearing his throat, Max began to go over the same information that he had earlier ex plained to both Jake and Norm. However, he provided a much more rudimentary explanation this time as both Mo'at and Neytiri barely understood the concept of brainwaves, computers, and wireless networks. For their part, though, the two female Na'vi remained silent during Max's explanation.

Mo'at nodded as Max showed her Alejandra's EEG scan and the tablet's processing and network output. At his conclusion, Jake allowed Mo'at a few moments to let her digest the in formation Max had given her. A few moments later, the spiritual leader rose and motioned for Jake, Neytiri, and Max to follow her.

She led them to the bunkhouse where she had told Jake about the legend of the _Txon Tanhì_ only days ago. "JhakeSulley, have you spoken of the _Txon Tanhì_ with this man," she asked as she gestured to the painting still marking the floor of the bunkhouse.

Jake shook his head. "No, I have only discussed this with Neytiri and Norm. Why, is there a connection?"

Mo'at nodded. "The legend says that the _Txon Tanhì_ will share a deep connection with Ewya that will be forged from love and grief. As with all life, Ewya shows compassion, but the bond between the All Mother and the _Txon Tanhì_ comes from a deeper source. How deep, I know not."

"Excuse me," Max interrupted. "What is this _Txon Tanhì_, and how is this connected with Captain Chacon's anomalous brainwave patterns?"

Jake looked to Mo'at who nodded in response to his unspoken question for permission. "The legend of the _Txon Tanhì_," he began looking down to the olive-skinned scientist, "about a warrior who summons something known as the _Txon Tanhì_, or Night Star if you prefer, and this Night Star ushers in a New Dawn for the Na'vi from the nearer of Pandora's moons."

"And you think that Captain Chacon and the _Dark Star_ are related to _this_ legend?"

Jake, Neytiri, and Mo'at nodded at Max's question. He merely shrugged in response.

"Well that explains why you and Norm have been so focused on the Moon. So, you think that Captain Chacon is the Night Star?"

Again, the trio of Na'vi nodded to Max's question.

"Okay, so if this captain is the Night Star of legend that would certainly explain why her brainwaves are so… so odd. This would mean that your Ewya is somehow transmitting information into her mind as a means of communicating with her." Max continued, as he appeared to be considering this turn of events. "How can Pandora's global bio-network connect with a species that doesn't have a queue," he muttered to himself.

Shrugging, Jake said, "Hell if I know," confessing his lack of knowledge regarding neu roscience.

"What about grief," Jake heard Neytiri ask her mother. He had wanted to ask that question himself, but filling in Max about the legend had placed it on the back burner.

Mo'at shook her head. "I know not the cause of the grief, but the legend says that the _Txon Tanhì_ comes bearing the grief of a great loss. A loss that only the All Mother will be able to cure."

Jake's mind froze for an instant. Alejandra had lost her sister. _A great loss_ reverberated in his mind. The pieces of the puzzle were falling in place. Trudy had died, which translated as a great loss for Alejandra, and the mysterious brainwave patterns were Ewya's attempts at consoling the human captain. _But why would Ewya give a crap about a human who has no connection with Pandora other than a dead sibling_, he asked himself. However, the answer did not present itself. Another question, though, presented itself.

"Mother, why did you wait till now to mention this about the _Txon Tanhì_?" Jake was perplexed. If he'd known about this a week ago, he could have better planned for handling the Alejandra _situation_, or at least been more informed.

In response, Mo'at smiled and placed her right hand on Jake's right cheek. "I did not tell you, JhakeSulley, because you did not need to know then. You were clouded by your anger and worry with the coming of the tawtute to know. I tell you now because you are ready to embrace your destiny."

Jake looked to the other two people currently inside the bunkhouse. Max had immersed himself in his tablet as he worked with his latest theory regarding Alejandra's neurological condition. Neytiri had managed to grasp his left hand at some point during the meeting, and was presently rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. Again, Jake wondered what he'd done in his life to deserve someone so devoted and compassionate in his life. Whatever the reason, he was eternally grateful.

However, it did not calm his mind because every question answered regarding the current situation resulted in the birth of two more. The only thing he knew for certain was that there was nothing for certain in this universe.

* * *

After Jake left the Med Lab, Norm had found himself standing over the sleeping form of Captain Alejandra Chacon. She lay there still as he absorbed every visible inch and curve of her body and compared Alejandra to her late sister. He was amazed at how much they looked alike. Alejandra only differed slightly.

Alejandra wore her hair slightly shorter than her sister did, and her skin was paler from having spent most of the last six years inside of a sealed starship with little more than fluorescent lighting. She was also thinner than Trudy was. Where Trudy's features were somewhat fuller and richer, Alejandra's were thinner and gaunter. Norm figured that the Captain was a habitual workaholic who didn't eat at regular intervals. _That's gonna change_, Norm added to himself.

He also noticed that her muscles were significantly less defined than Trudy's because of atrophy. He knew this was from spending over two years outside of cryo stasis in microgravity, and not working out at proper intervals to maintain her physical strength. She would be able to work in Pandora's lower than Earth gravity, but he doubted that she would be able to move around easily at one gee. Alejandra would require weeks, perhaps even months of physical therapy and exercise to regain her normal functionality.

However, these physical differences did not mar her beauty. Like her sister, she was very attractive; she only needed to establish healthier eating habits and rebuild her muscle definition. Like Trudy, Alejandra was a goddess; only that Alejandra was formed of a frailer divinity than her pilot sister was. At least that was Norm's assessment of the woman before him.

As he viewed the goddess before him, Norm remembered the time he'd spent with her sister. The months he'd spent with her in the mobile lab at Site Twenty-Six in the Hallelujah Mountains had been the best months of his life. While Grace and Jake were piloting their avatars, he and Trudy had gotten to know each other.

The friendship they had formed at _Hell's Gate_ grew as the two spent most of their days together maintaining the modular facility and monitoring Jake and Grace. One day, as he was explaining how the avatar link chamber worked, Trudy had kissed him. A few minutes later, they'd found themselves in the dormitory building as they made love for the first time.

Over the next several weeks, they continued to spend many of the days in each other's arms while Grace and Jake drove their avatars at the Omaticaya hometree. To Norm, it seemed as if he were in heaven. However, their heaven soon turned to hell.

Within thirty-six hours, the RDA bulldozers destroyed the Tree of Voices and Quaritch had leveled the Omaticaya hometree. Within another twelve hours, he, Trudy, Jake, and Grace were fugitives on the run from Quaritch as they fled to Site Twenty-Six to salvage the link chambers before RDA forces tracked them down. Moving to the Tree of Souls, Jake had come up with a plan to _bond_ with a Great Leonpteryx, and gain the trust of the Na'vi to retaliate against Quaritch and the RDA.

The night before The Battle for the Tree of Souls, he and Trudy had made love once more. That night, they confessed their feelings for each other. Norm told her that he was in love with her, and Trudy had confessed her love to him. The following day, however, their seeds of their love were burned away when her Samson was destroyed by Colonel Miles Quaritch.

When Norm learned of his love's fate, he'd been grief stricken. Soon his grief had turned to anger and he'd lost control of himself. At first, he'd blamed Jake for her death by hitting and punching the Na'vi warrior before collapsing in his arms and weeping for Trudy. Jake had comforted him until he calmed down enough to understand that the one responsible for her death was not Jake, but Quaritch.

Norm had been angry with the dead human Colonel since. His only regret was that he wished that it had been him instead of Jake and Neytiri to end the bastard's life. If he'd had his way, the son-of-a-bitch would have died a lot slower than he did. Neytiri's arrows had been a too kind a way for _Colonel Genocide_, as Norm called him, to enter hell.

However, all that had changed. Now, it seemed almost as if Trudy had been reborn in the woman lying before him. Norm knew that this woman was a very different person than the one he'd loved so, but maybe Alejandra's arrival wasn't mere accident. Though it may never be, Norm hoped that Alejandra could be a second chance at love. If so, he wouldn't make the mistake of allowing her to die as he had with Trudy.


End file.
